KPAX: Cupid It's a Wonderful Life Despite 911
by Atomdancerrr
Summary: Cupid must pull a “Howling Mad Murdock” to save Claire and Josie from 9/11. Then Cupid, prot and the staff and Patients of MPI and Sachs-Gordon Medical Center Medical center get through 9/11 with a little help from Clarence Odbody Angel First Class.


KPAX: Cupid It's a Wonderful Life Despite 911

By

Elizabeth Hensley 8-)

The Old Cupid can be watched at you tube and some of the new Cupid can be watched at ABC's site.

Gene Brewer's 4 K-PAX books can be purchased at Amazon. This is based on just the first 3.

Notice concerning the Cupid shows I am fudging on the dates. The new Cupid supposedly only arrived in 2009. But since the show, Cupid itself is a remake and the dates have changed, I feel justified. This idea was just too good to ignore. I set it in the New York version but use some of the names for characters from the first show as the new show hasn't given them yet plus I give RT, the last name of Pierce but keep his initials. If I find out new names for these characters in the new show which hopefully will be put back on the air sometime I will change them as soon as possible. If nothing else computer animation will become so easy and cheap to do people will be doing it at home. Quite possibly within our life times it will be possible to feed a home computer program a fan fiction story and have a video come out the other end! Go far enough in the future and artificial intelligence will bring fictional characters to life. The fan fiction and other story's we write may be creating real minds and worlds and we don't even realize it!

Also note prot doesn't capitalize anything but PLANETS STARS and GALAXIES. All other names are lower case.

K-PAX: Cupid, Despite 9/11 It's a Wonderful Life

The three messages on Claire's office answering machine were the most disturbing she had ever heard.

Message 1 of 3. Claire as you know it I am very homesick. I am standing on the ledge on the roof of One Court Square. I will leave you draw your own conclusions about why I am here. But if you, and Josie do not leave your brand new office at the World Trade Center and are not here by 8:36 the consequences will be very terrible and heart rending for all of us. Please listen to next message.

Message 2 of 3. Please bring as many people from your office at the World Trade Center. The more you bring the more I will be convinced Mortals still love me. I am very upset right now! But you must be here by 8:36 using time as NASA uses time, very precise. It is very important! You must be here by 8:46! Please listen to next message.

Message 3 of 3. "Remember 8:36. I am very upset with my Father! He is not bad, not really, but he is hungry! I can't blame a tiger for eating a whole bunch of cute, little bunny rabbits, but the trouble is I am living among the Bunny Rabbits now so my viewpoint has changed! I know the god of war has to feed but does he have to feed off of Humans this close to me? End of Messages."

Claire and Josie stared at one another with grim horror.

Jaclyn said, "I thought he was doing so well!"

Claire nodded. I also. I've pretty much given up hope that his delusion would ever clear up but I was able to give him enough insight to realize just how insane he sounds. So he was learning ways to be discrete about it. And he was starting to enjoy the challenge of being a bowless Cupid. He was uniting Lovers left and right. He's good at it. And while I gave up hope of him every realizing he wasn't Cupid I thought he would get his one hundredth couple united and 'go back to Olympus' so to speak and leave the man who was using Cupid to hide behind still here for me to help."

Jaclyn's eyes were tearing over. She exclaimed, "He seemed so happy!

Claire grimaced, "He tries to be. He works hard at it. He succeeds most of the time but you know he's very ill."

"He doesn't seem to be. He's just crazy."

Claire shook her head; "Back in his past such an agonizing event happened that he so to speak committed suicide by letting another ego take over his body. I think the original ego is trying to surface again, hence his statement that, 'his father needs to feed'. I should have seen this coming!"

Jaclyn said, "Well stop the psychobabble and help me call Folks. He said the more we brought the more he would realize Mortals still loved him."

They called as many people as time would allow. It was amazing how many people were willing to drop anything they were doing and rush to Cupid's aid. He had interacted with almost every person he met in the building from the doorman to the highest executives, "trying to spread the love around.

Clair and Josie left the world Trade Center with over a hundred people. It seems everybody loves, Love.

They rushed to the subway calling out, "Follow us. Cupid is in trouble! Almost everyone knew who he was thanks to Maggie's special interest piece. It was not like the lunatic had tried to hide his delusion from anyone. Folks went to Tres Equis just to meet Cupid. It was a big draw to the Mexican Karaoke bar and restaurant. From his boss's viewpoint it would have been a bad thing if Trevor had been cured.

It was like something out of a Frank Capra movie. By the time they reached One Court Square they had a hoard of over a 500 people following them.

Clair dialed Isaac. She explained as they ran for the subway, "Out of all the orderlies Trevor really liked Isaac. He has the best chance of getting close enough to him to wrestle him away from the ledge and sedate him."

Jaclyn was the first to see him. She pointed upwards. "There he is! Oh my God! He IS going to jump!"

Claire shook her head, "I hope not. We are here. That's what he asked. We can never climb all these steps in time! The elevator must work!

Jaclyn said, "He must see all these people down here and can put two and two together.

Claire says, "In his current mental state that might not be good enough. We have to get up there so he can see WE came.

Isaac arrived then, panting from running the whole way from the subway. Claire turned to the crowd. "We are going up. Please start shouting, 'Cupid don't jump! We Love you! Cupid don't jump! We love you!' Maybe it will make a difference."

The crowd did so as they tried the elevator.

Fortunately it worked.

They swung the door to the roof open slowly and gently. "Easy!" Claire said, "We don't want to startle him and make him fall by accident."

But he heard them and swung around. A look of relief and joy came across his face. "Claire! Josie! I am so relieved you are safe! And Isaac too! Isaac I wasn't sure if you were in danger or not but it is sure wonderful to see you!"

Clair said, "Trevor please don't jump! Please talk to me. Whatever it is that suddenly made you worse, it can still be fixed. I can still help you. Please let me!"

Trevor said, "Oh no. I'm not going to jump. I have to finish my mission. I just needed you here, safe and couldn't think how else this 'madman' could get you to leave the World Trade Center instead of seeing your Patients all day long."

He turned back towards the ledge.

"Trevor! Don't!"

He looked back over his shoulder and swung his arms in the direction of the World Trade Center. "Claire, Josie, Isaac, look at where you worked! Look at it! What a magnificent structure even by our standards! Even we gods never built structures like those! Give it a good lonnnnng look! Memorize every stone, every window! Do so because in a few minutes that, will, be, all, you, have."

The three rescuers looked at one another in worried puzzlement.

Trevor continued. "We are all about to find out if I am a nut or a god. Probably both. If my Pops didn't really call me today and say 'whatever you do don't visit your Shrink's office at the World Trade Center because I'm starting a really neat war there, then I'm nuts. If the god of war really did talk to me I'm still just as nuts. But I'm right!"

Trevor growled. "I am not happy camper right now! Oh my father is not evil really, but he's hungry. Just as I live on love he lives on fear and terror and hatred and anger. He's going to feast like a big fat Boar and I'm going to just about starve!"

Clair said, "Please Trevor get away from that ledge!"

Instead Trevor said, "Isaac, I don't need my lost omnipresence to know you must have a needle full of nice soothing medication in one of your pockets. You are standing there trying to figure out how to get close enough to me to jab me with it. Well you don't have to. I am NOT going to jump. Cupid does not give up! Besides my life span is a whole lot longer than you Mortals so I would be giving up a whole lot more. I just want a good viewpoint for what is about to happen."

As he continued to talk Claire motioned to Isaac to sneak up on him. Slowly he inched towards Trevor who was so intent on watching for the coming disaster he didn't even notice. He kept rattling on.

"It is not true that we gods can't be killed. Most things cannot kill us but we can kill each other. My Grandfather for instance killed the gods who had his position. He loves me but he isn't really a nice guy and My Pops is the same, loves his family but I can hardly call him kind to others. He is the god of war and he loves his work! It's going to be real hard on me the next few days. There is hardly enough love on Earth these days for me anyway so when what happens, happens I am just about going to starve for a few days. But I know if I just hang in there for a few weeks things will improve. That's one nice thing about you Mortals and I admit it. You get over your emotional tiffs really quickly. Not us gods. We just go on and on and on and on and on and ON for all eternity! Jerry Springfield needs to do a show on Olympus sometime. He needs to do a season!"

"Oh my Mother and I TRY to calm things down. We really do but you know we are outnumbered!"

When 'what' happens? Claire was trying to keep him talking.

When the World Trade Center comes crashing down. Hey!"

Isaac had grabbed him and wrestled him to the ground. Claire herself rammed the needle in.

"Rotten trick! But you may be wanting the key it's in….." He was out like a light."

The three friends started to breath again. They stared at him, "What could have brought that on?"

Claire took off her jacket and put it under her beloved Patient's head to pillow it. She realized her face was wet with tears. "I did think he was doing so well!"

She pulled out her cell phone and dialed 911.

"What is the nature of your emergency?"

I am on the roof at One Court Square. I am a Psychiatrist. We were just successful at stopping a jumper. We have him sedated but he metabolizes medication rapidly. I need a strait jacket and a restraining stretcher up here as soon as possible."

"Understood. I'm sending them."

Jaclyn turned to Claire. "Do you think that is really necessary?"

Claire nodded grimly, "I think so. Back at Sachs-Gordon Medical Center he hardly felt the medication he was given. No matter how strong they were he was still bouncing off the walls. You know how he is. He still does it. It is rather charming actually. But I suspect what we just gave him isn't going to keep him sedated long and when he comes to I need him restrained for his own safety until I can ascertain his mental state, that he isn't' going to do something like this again."

Suddenly Isaac shouted in horror, "Look!" He pointed at a much too low flying plane.

Suddenly it was the World that had gone mad not the Lunatic.

The three friends crumpled in a heap next to their unconscious Companion, hanging on to one another for all the comfort it could bring them.

Finally Isaac spoke in wonder, "He knew! Somehow he knew! He stared at the unconscious mental Patient who was sprawled out like a rag doll a drugged smile on his lips. "Cupid you just saved our lives! Most of the People down below too. You knew! You are crazy like a Fox!"

Jaclyn's eyes grew wider as that realization hit her, "He DID know! But, how? Claire do you think he really IS a god?"

Instead of scoffing at this, as she would have just a few minutes earlier Claire said, "If he is, he needs our help far more than we need his." She stroked his forehead.

Jaclyn said, "I am so scared! If he is a god all the things I learned in Sunday school are wrong!"

Isaac said, "Not necessarily. I am interested in fine architecture. I suspect one of my ancestors might have been Imhotep the wonderful genius who designed the pyramids. So I am interested in all things ancient Egyptian. I read the Egyptian Book of the Dead. It says all the little gods make up the One Big God."

Jaclyn brightened at that, "It is like 1 Corinthians 12:27. "Do you not know that we are the Body of Christ and individually members of it?"

Isaac nodded, "Yes we are ALL part of the same Big Being. Cupid's People, us, Animals too I suppose. Some Scientists talk about the Gaia hypothesis."

Clair shuttered, "You realize that ambulance isn't coming any time soon? We are going to have to get him down off this roof ourselves. Isaac you grab him under the arms. Josie you help me carry his legs."

Isaac said, "My, Cupid! I think you must be putting on weight."

Jaclyn asked, "How do you know that?"

Despite their sad circumstances Isaac grinned, "When he was first brought into Sachs-Gordon Medical Center the policy is to always assume the involuntarily committed patients are unwilling and potentially violent and carry them in and strap them down until a Doctor can examine them. As it was I am sure he would have walked in on his own if a bit reluctantly. I was one of the Orderlies who helped carry him in and strap him down. He was such a trip! He wasn't happy about being committed and carried and strapped down but he wasn't holding it against us. He was cracking jokes and said, "If it weren't for the honor of this I would just as soon walk!"

Clair pointed out. "He was quoting a comment by Lincoln."

Isaac looked at her, "And gods aren't allowed to read history books?

Anyway when it came time to medicate him four of us orderlies came at him with the needle to put on a show of strength. We didn't' need to I don't think or maybe he was just intelligent enough to realize fighting that many of us would be futile. He was teasing us about 'So now you Mortals are shooting Cupid!' He pulled down his pants himself and held steady as a rock, and said, 'Even Mortals can't fail to hit a target this big! Ouch!' Then he started crying and we thought it was from the pain or fear of what the medication was about to do to his mind. Instead they were tears of joy. He said, 'You Kids are growing up!'

We excused ourselves and went to the restroom and just howled with laughter. But we were a bit worried. We were afraid that was the last we were going to see of that kind of behavior. But he never did the Thorazine shuffle and he never stopped thinking he was Cupid much to our delight. The meds just calmed him down just a little bit, but not much. The next day he started his sing a longs and Ward B became a much happier place."

Claire sighed. Isaac you do know don't you, that his psychosis is due to hysterical delusion, not a dopamine imbalance so neuroleptics can't help him. That's why I don't want him in the hospital! We weren't helping him there. It is better he is forced to cope with the reality beyond the hospital and he seemed to be doing so. So I don't understand this abrupt set back!"

Suddenly the second plane came and did what it did.

Slow motion. It seemed to happen in slow motion.

This time they watched in utter silence. No one could think of a thing to say.

Moments passed.

Finally Isaac said, "That's two planes. There could be more. This is the roof of a building. We are not safe. We have to get him down! WE have to get down."

They hauled him to the door and Isaac tried to open it, "Locked." He said grimly.

Claire said, "Trevor was as usual one hundred percent thorough. He tricked us to the top of a building with a locking roof door so there was NO chance of us leaving and being harmed.

Jaclyn said, "Just before he passed out he said, 'the key is…"

Isaac asked, "Now if I were a god where would I hide a key?"

Claire said, "I found it. It was in his pocket."

Isaac said, "Fancy him hiding it there!"

Despite their circumstances they laughed.

They hauled him to the elevator and down and out the front door. Most of the crowd had left to find loved ones, dig, or try to help or flee the city, but a few remained, "Claire spoke to a young, Asian Lady with pig tails, "Would you help us get him to the hospital?"

She looked at him shocked, "You didn't have to sedate him. He isn't crazy. He knew what was going to happen! He tricked you up there to save our lives! I was on the way to the World Trade Center when you asked me to come help HIM. But he helped us instead!"

Gently Claire said, "This is very hard on him. He thinks he is the god of love and he just watched us Mortal's hate ourselves like nobodies business. Plus he thinks his Father; the god of war is responsible. He may be a god but he is a very disturbed god right now. Please help me get him to a place where I can keep him safe."

Crying, she nodded, "yes."

Date 2001 9/10. Place: Manhattan Psychiatric Institute.

Dr. Gene Brewer sat at his desk refreshing himself about prot's files. He shouldn't have been in such a great mood. The relapse of a Patient was not a good thing, really. But it was just he had so missed prot. It was disheartening that Robert Porter kept relapsing and disappearing into his Alien friend but prot was always cooperative in therapy and doing everything possible to return his Host to proper functioning. It was very clear the Alien "Worm" was not interested in being a Puppet Master. It was also clear Robert Porter's latest regression was caused by the death of his mother. But how could he have known his mother died living 7000 light years away from EARTH on his Alien friend's paradisal PLANET? But Dr. Brewer couldn't help being happy. He had missed prot.

The phone rang.

He leaned his chair back and put his feet up on his desk as he answered it. It was his old friend Dr. William Siegel, head of the Long Island Psychaitric Hospital where prot had first been committed.

"Hi Bill. What's up?"

"I've got another one for you."

"Another what?"

Another impossible Patient like prot."

"What? Another K-PAXian?"

No. This one claims he is one Clarence OdBody, Angel First Class and he needed to be committed to Long Island Psychiatric Hospital so when his 90 days of observation were over and I realized he was too tough nut for me to crack he would be transferred to Sachs-Gordon Medical Center so he could help prot and Cupid. I swear, Gene that is what he said! I told him he was a tad confused because prot wasn't on Earth any more and he had been at MPI not Sachs-Gordon Medical Center. And if he wanted to see Cupid he could just go down to Tres Equis and buy a ginger bear because the whole, big, little town of New York is Cupid's lunatic asylum. He wasn't at Sachs-Gordon Medical Center. Anymore and hardly needed to be. He is perfectly competent to manage his own affairs and the entire city is perfectly willing to accept he's Cupid. He's very competent about being crazy too."

Gene Brewer started to laugh, "Sounds like how I used to think prot was before I realized he was a real Alien." Wasn't Clarence in a movie?"

Bill chuckled. "Yup. 'It's a Wonderful life.' By Frank Capra. That movie is a Psychiatrist's dream. It's prevented more suicides than the entire suicide prevention hotline program in the entire U S of A. My new Patient says the movie was a true story and they made it about him. He looked so serious and he actually does look quite a bit like the Actor who played the Angel. It was all I could do to not laugh and ask for his autograph!"

The two friends chortled together.

Then Bill added, "If he hadn't been confused about what mental hospital prot was at, or even what PLANET he is on I'd have probably believed him. He showed up clean and fresh as a daisy in old-fashioned clothes that look new without even a hint of perspiration in the middle of June. I don't think anyone dropped him off because really, who drops a Patient off at a mental hospital and then drives off like he had just dropped a Guy off at work? He had nothing with him except a big box of books. All of them look and smell new and all of them are first editions, some of them of books published two centuries ago. How can that be? He said it was so he would have something to do to pass the time because he likes to read. He's been reading to the other Patients. I didn't know some of those old classics could be so entertaining. Like prot he is perfectly willing to take meds but they don't do a thing for him. He was already perfectly calm when he got here but they don't cure him of any delusions. But like prot he seems sane unless he brings up his point of origin. He's just sure he's an Angel and for all I know, he is, but kind of a weird one though. There is something about him that is very cheerful but just not quite right. He's got a calendar in his room and he checks off the days until I send him to the Sachs-Gordon Medical Center. I figured I would send him to you instead. After all if prot WERE on Earth he'd be with you instead of at the Sachs-Gordon Medical Center, and that is a short term facility anyway like our own, not a long term facility for hard to treat patients like MPI. The little guy didn't seem to realize that."

Then, "Gene you do work for MPI and not the Sachs-Gordon Medical Center don't you?"

Gene laughed, "Yes, but he's not completely wrong. Prot is back.

Suddenly there was a series of screams coming from the Patient's outdoor recreation area, (known as the Back 40). Gene slammed down the phone and headed for the elevator.

It was Cassie.

Dr. Chakraborty had been eating his lunch at one of the tables so he was first to reach her. "Cassie what is wrong?!"

She pointed at the World Trade Center. "It's coming down!" she said. "Airplanes! Two of them! The Pentagon gets hit too." She melted into his arms and he embraced her, comforting her. But he needed comforting himself.

The Indian doctor asked, "When?" and shuttered. He knew Cassie was never _ever_ wrong!"

"Tomorrow at 8:36."

Dr. Chakraborty exclaimed, "Gayatri Madid SAHAAYATA!" Then, "How come you didn't know sooner? You usually know things weeks ahead of time."

"They blocked me."

"Who?"

"The ones who tell me the future."

"Cassie, who _are_ they?"

"I must not tell you. If I did they would quit talking to me."

Dr. Chakraborty bit his lip, "Come. Let us go tell Dr. Brewer.

"You know I'm not crazy."

"You are not delusional. You won't take care of yourself. If we didn't shelter you and coax you to eat you'd starve and be homeless. But you have never been wrong about the future. Maybe Gene will be knowing what to do."

They almost collided with Gene Brewer as he bounded out the elevator.

They Patients and Staff all gathered round and listened as Cassie reported what the future held for them. They didn't bother to hide it. It would have been futile to try. Mental hospitals like all small towns have grape vines strong enough to swing Tarzan.

Gene said to Cassie. "If I call up the President or even the Mayor of New York and report 'I am a Psychiatrist at a mental hospital and one of our Patients who has never been wrong says the World Trade Center is coming down tomorrow' they'll commit ME! Plus how can I stop it? Your future history seems to be written in stone Cassie. You can't predict something that isn't really going to happen."

Grimly Cassie nodded.

Dr. Chakraborty stared out the window. "Gene we are going to have to evacuate all the Patients. We are too close to the World Trade Center. At least we can do that."

Gene shrugged helplessly. "We would be taking them to Sachs-Gordon Medical Center I guess. But how do I convince the head of Sachs-Gordon Medical Center to let us evacuate to their hospital on the whims (and that is what he would call it Cassie, sorry), of one of our Patients?"

Dr. Chakraborty said, "Prot! You can mirror beam them, can't you?

Prot nodded. For once his usual grin was gone. "Yes. But where? I'd have to have a really wide landing spot for all of us at once.

Gene gave Dr. Chakraborty a skeptical look.

"Gene you know he can really do it."

"Yes, he can mirror beam, but that many, that quickly? And as he said where would he put them? He would need a field as a landing pad. But where we would we find a field close to Sachs-Gordon Medical Center? This is New York city!"

Dr. Chakraborty said, "a Friend just happened to drive me by there yesterday. The West parking lot is being blocked off for repaving. He could beam them there tomorrow by 8:30. By the time they have it all sorted out the World Trade Center will be down and they will not be arguing with us."

"Prot accidentally landed in a tree once!"

Prot gave his Doctor an embarrassed grin. "My landing target was smaller, gino. I was aiming for my room. I don't think even moi could miss a big old parking lot."

Gene Brewer sighed and reluctantly nodded. Ok. I never thought I'd be making plans to suddenly invade anther mental hospital with all our Patients, without warning, before dawn! Man! It sounds like the invasion at Normandy!"

He turned to the friendly Alien, "Ok. Prot go do your calculations for beaming or whatever it is you do. I'll go alert the staff we have to evacuate. Cassie would you be willing to go to the infirmary and take an oral sedative? I think it would be good for you."

She nodded and willing followed Dr. Chakraborty to the infirmary.

Gene Brewer stared at the phone. He called Bill Siegel back, "Sorry for hanging up on you suddenly like that. Have Clarence Odbody, Angel first class sent to Sachs-Gordon Medical Center after all.

"Why?"

"You know about Cassie?"

"Your never wrong Prophetess? Yes. What about her?"

"Well let's just say it would not be a good idea to visit the World Trade Center tomorrow.

"Oh no!"

Gene frowned, bowed his head and closed his eyes in sorrow. "Yes!"

***

The weird, little Angel sat in front of his Psychiatrist calmly grasping his huge box of books and smiling gently.

Bill Siegel stared at his strange Patient and said, "Alright Clarence Odbody this is our final session. As you stated in your first session with me you were destined to go to the Sachs-Gordon Medical Center to help prot and Cupid. Prot is at the Manhattan Psychaitric Institute not Sachs-Gordon Medical Center but the Director at MPI thinks something is going to happen later today that will result in prot's transfer to Sachs-Gordon Medical Center. So with considerable amazement I am very respectfully humoring you and arranging your transfer there also. You can't say we don't aim to please!" Bill reached in his desk and pulled out a sheet of paper. "Here are your transfer papers. I'm signing them now. To make sure our fine government pays for your stay there I'm making it an involuntary commitment. I am sure you don't mind. Since it is involuntary the only official way you could get out before your Doctor declares you competent would be to stand before a Judge and contest it.

"I won't. It is where I want to go."

"I know. But I just thought I would make that very clear."

The little Cherub brightened, "When do I leave?"

Bill gave his patient a Cheshire cat grin. "Any time you want to. Due to our current budget crunch we can't even spare an ambulance. You got yourself here. You'll get yourself there."

Clarence stared at Bill Siegel. A slow grin crossed his face. A few seconds of silence passed. Than he said, "I didn't fool you one bit did I?"

"Well, only at first. And anyway even if you were mentally ill you are so harmless I'd trust you to baby sit my new granddaughter."

Clarence got a pained look, "Please don't! I'm all thumbs. I'd end up sticking the Kid with the diaper pins."

"We don't use diaper pins these days Mr. Odbody. We use tape and paper diapers."

He smiled, "What a practicable development! Bet one of my kind thought that up.

"An Angel?"

No. I was referring to something else. It is possible to be more than thing at a time. For instance you are a good Psychiatrist, a saxophone player, a pretty good golfer and you love the TV show, 'Touched by an Angel,' which is why you are handling me so calmly. So you see it is possible for the same being to be more than one thing. I'm an Angel, one Clarence Odbody, Angel first class. I was born in the late 18th century and I died in the 19th century and found all those cute little Sunday school stories were true because far in the future Science fulfilled Faith. My Father was a hatter and he brought a lot of mercury home with him inadvertently. I was heavy metal poisoned sometime during my development. So besides being a heavenly being I also have what you call Asperger's syndrome. I'm slightly autistic. That is why I come across as so weird and why it took me so long to get my wings. It is also why I love to read so much and why even when Folks believe me I come across as one weird, little Angel. Your facial expressions mean nothing to me and I can't respond to them quickly enough. I smile a lot because I know that is what friendly beings do. Prot has almost the same problem around here but it is due to his not being in his Being's usual host. He CAN read facial expressions, in fact VERY well, better than Humans can, but he can't respond back to them quickly enough either. Like me he can't, "face dance." He tries but he's faking it. So he spooks people out and they understand on a deep instinctive level that he really is an Alien, or crazy, or both. As for me, like many of my kind I am hyperlexic. I was reading at five and can't be found without a book in my hands. I love People but social skills were never my strong point."

"So books are one of your autistic perserverations and even on assignment you have to have a big pile of them. That's what gave you away, Mr. Odbody." Bill Siegel reached in his desk drawer, pulled out a book and slapped it down on his desk, "I purloined one of them. It smells and looks new but it's a 19th century first edition printed on old-fashioned paper with Victorian era ink. The expert in Victorian novels I consulted just about had a heart attack. I'm seeing him next Wednesday for supportive therapy. He was an Atheist and he isn't taking you too calmly."

Clarence grabbed up his book and started laughing. "I never even realized you'd swiped it. Some Angel I am!" He glanced at the title, "'The Time Machine' By H.G. Wells. It's more appropriate than you realize."

Bill smiled, "You could have told me you had Asperger's syndrome. I could tell you were not, shall we say, 'normal.' So knowing your proper diagnosis would have made me realize you weren't delusional sooner.

Clarence giggled, "And spoil the thrill of the chase? It worked for me. I needed you to let me stay here."

"Ah, Clarence, do you think I would toss a real Angel out on his wings? By the way notice you don't have your wings on, now."

Clarence leaned back in his chair and grinned, " You can't help being a Psychiatrist now can you? Even when you believe the Patient you have to try and figure him out! Well, you don't have a tux on either but I bet you own one or could rent one."

"Touché."

Clarence leaned forward in his chair. "They are really quite uncomfortable. The Human body wasn't really designed to have wings and they sure aren't necessary for transportation. Quantum entanglement takes care of that. But People expect them at fancy occasions. It's traditional. Neurotypicals thought that one up, of course. If all of Heaven were ran by Aspergians we'd show up at major occasions in old T shirts and levy's sans wings and probably shoes too."

Bill started laughing, "Please understand I'm not laughing because I don't believe you. I'm laughing because (pity me Father Freud) I DO!

They both laughed together for a while. It was therapeutic.

"So they do not cure Aspergers syndrome when you are? What word should I use? Translated?"

"'Upgraded to a better hardware system' would be more technically accurate. No. Aspergers syndrome isn't what I have. It is what I AM. Glorified or not I still want to be ME. My neural nets have been pruned but what is left is very, very strong. I'm a bonsai tree being."

Bill stared at him, "But the same could be said for folks with multiple personalities. What happens to all their multiple operating systems when they are uploaded?"

"Let's just say we have some very interesting souls running around loose in Heaven."

"Clarence, where exactly is Heaven? Is it a planet like K-PAX? "

Clarence shook his head, "No, it exists far in the future and was build by Humanity. 1 Corinthians 12:27, 'We are the body of Christ and individually members of it.' All Carpenters use their bodies to build things. Heaven is a 15 hundred mile long cube covered in precious stones. The Geeks who were the part of the Body of Christ who built it just had to mod the case of course. That is what Geeks like to do. You can read about it in the last two chapters of Revelation. You were never lied to. It is just up until now you lacked the words to understand that Heaven is a computer."

"But if Heaven is built in the future how are you sitting here now? Oh stupid question. Time travel. Silly me. A Scientist named Ronald L. Mallett, is working on a real one right now. (Author's note go to Youtube and google, "The Real Time Machine)."

Clarence said, "At first it was just the same kind of time travel we are both doing now;

One second per second time travel towards the future. So at first only those born after John's Cube was invented got uploaded. But time and space curve, bent by the gravitational mass of the Universe due to General Relativity. So eventually John's Cube simply reached the past by sticking around long enough. Then things got REALLY interesting. It was designed to withstand the Big Crunch and the Big Bang and we "morning stars" got to make absolutely sure the Universe stayed life bearing: The Strong Anthropic Principle and all that. It is really the same as the Gaia hypothesis except it works on a Universal level. When life started evolving again we started uploading all plant and Animal Life. Life is too valuable to waste. Each being is unique. To lose even a single celled being would be a tragedy."

So I take it we never completely cure hoarding type OCD?

Clarence smiled, "Nope. Thank God! Or where would I be? Also some of my best friends are amoebas."

"Spoken like a true Aspergian!"

Big grin. "Yup!"

"What about Jesus?"

Clarence smiled, "The Galilee Carpenter is a real Human being like you and I, an organically produced operating system except He's evolved to true omnipresence. Jesus is Lord because His terrible death drew all Men to Himself, just as He plainly stated and because He deserves it and because the vast majority of Humanity wants Him to be. We could have had anyone in top position. But just, Who else would we have picked to rule us, but Jesus?" Clarence smiled.

"What about Buddha?"

"On permanent vacation in Tibet." Clarence frowned, "Absolutely no ambition; a shame, really. We could use his help."

Bill Siegel glanced at the clock, "well Clarence, sad as this is for me I have to treat you just like any other Patient. Our session has to be over due to time constraints. Now I've got to be seeing a hebephrenic schizophrenic who will keep me entertained for the next hour with a rapid fire string of jokes but none of them will make any sense and we can't get him to take enough medication to slow his fine mind down to a sane level. Which is a shame. He was a Physicist and just on the verge of inventing a major step towards quantum computers."

Clarence smiled, "Don't worry. You succeed in successfully treating him. He WILL. He' designs one more link in the very long chain that will lead to us"

Bill suddenly felt a whole lot happier. Playfully he eyed his patient. "Just get yourself to the Sachs-Gordon Medical Center. I know you can. Hey wait, take your transfer papers with you."

Clarence smiled, grabbed up the paper, crumpled it and stuffed it in his pocket. Bill winced at all those crumples but Clarence didn't notice. "I'm not supposed to go anywhere without being escorted by the orderlies. Do I have your permission to break hospital policy and leave without Ted and Fred?"

Bill Siegel sat back in his chair and waved his hands. "Oh, absolutely! Go for it."

"Ok." Clarence grinned. He grabbed his box of books firmly. Then he was gone.

Bill Siegel didn't even blink. He just muttered to himself, "didn't even need a mirror or a flashlight" He got on the intercom, "Ok Mrs Tibble, send in the next Patient."

"What happened to Clarence?"

"He beamed up, Mrs Tibble."

Oh blimey! He was real!

"Does it surprise you?"

"No."

"Me neither. There is something about New York, Mrs. Tibble. It attracts _all_ sorts of crazies."

***

Jerry frowned at the black stuff on his shoe. "Dirty!" he exclaimed.

Gently Betty said, "Yes Jerry. It is tar and it is very dirty. But we are safe now.

"Wanna go home!"

I am sorry Jerry you can't! We'll get you to a brand new room soon and we'll get you a big pile of Popsicle sticks. You can build something again."

Suddenly the thing they feared started to happen. Most of the Patients screamed in horror. But so did the Staff. It would not have been possible at that moment to tell the most disturbed of the Patients apart from the most serene of the Doctors. Prot quietly started crying. Gene Brewer stared at him. He had never seen his Alien Patient cry before. He hadn't even realized prot was capable of it.

Jerry said, "Bad plane!"

Nurse Betty said, "yes. But it is the hijackers inside the plane who are bad, Jerry not the plane. Humans do things. Things don't do things."

Jerry said firmly "I am going to need a whole lotta sticks. I must rebuild it."

Gently Betty said, "That many? I'll see what we can do."

Gene Brewer said, "Let's get them inside before the second one hits.

Jerry overheard. He started screaming, "Second one! Second one! Second one!"

Gene nodded at Roman who quickly gave Jerry a hypo, and gently hugged and held him until it took effect. Navarro helped him carry him over to the to the grass next to the parking lot and laid him down.

Prot said grimly, "I want one too!"

Roman shook his head, "Sorry prot. We are about to be at war. Who knows how bad it will be? We may have to ration these."

"You darn, violent, savage, blasted, meat eating, war mongering Humans!" Prot sank next to the grass next to Jerry. Alien and Autistic lay next to one another sharing a common bond and a common sorrow.

Gene Brewer stared at them thinking deeply. Quietly he said, "If all the world were like prot and Jerry there would be no airplanes flying into buildings and no dress code either.

Dr. Chakraborty nodded. Then he started crying. He tried to stop it but the tears just flowed. Gene Brewer hugged his fellow Doctor and then suddenly realized Betty and Cassie and a dozen of the other Patients and staff were joining him in one big group hug. Somehow they were going to all get through it, and they would do so because of love.

Amazingly none of the other Patients needed sedating. Shock was doing it for them. It was not so much that they had been mirror beamed. They were used to prot's mirror beaming and some had already taken unauthorized side trips with him. It was just why and where.

It was about then that the folks at the Sachs-Gordon Medical Center got around to paying attention to the hoard of people messing up the new asphalt in their parking lot. The security guards came running out with their hands on their guns and it took a few minutes for them to figure out the sudden hoard in their parking lot were more mental patients and their staff, not part of the horrible thing that had just happened in the sky. They rushed out to find a parking lot full of People hugging one another, Autistics staring at the sky and rocking and flapping to comfort themselves, Schizophrenics complaining vehemently to their voices about the disruption in their day, one Patient jumping up and down trying to fly, and another making little tar babies out of the fresh asphalt. The disturbed Patients who were starting to wake up from having been sedated and straitjacketed for their trip had started complaining vehemently about suddenly finding themselves in the strait jackets and two Patients laying prone in the grass, unconscious. Gene Brewer rushed forward, "We are from MPI. Prot beamed us all here because we were too close to the World Trade Center."

The security guards radioed the Director, Dr. Greely "ah, you aren't going to believe this. But they aren't terrorists. We've just been invaded by another mental hospital.

"Hostile take over?"

"Sir, don't be ridiculous! They are war refugees."

"War refugees!"

Sir you might have not have noticed but we are at war. MPI is so close to the World Trade Center they were in danger from the dust if nothing else."

"But they got here before the plane struck!"

"I have no explanation for that sir. You will have to ask them."

"Oh you bet I will! I'm coming down."

Dr. Brewer explained their situation. We had to leave. It isn't safe at MPI right now. Fortunately prot…""

Dr Milton Greely asked, "Yes, your MPD with the REAL Alien stuck in his brain! I know about him. I've read your books. But your People beamed in here BEFORE the plane struck!"

Dr. Brewer said grimly, "Yes! We did. And there is going to be another!

Sure enough, right on cue the second plane came hurling in.

Dr. Greely watched in mouth opened amazement and horror. Dr. Brewer just frowned and went over and hugged Cassie who had burst into tears again.

Dr Greely asked, "How did you know they were coming ahead of time?"

Dr. Brewer, trying to protect Cassie said, "Dr. Greely do me a favor and don't ask me that again, please?"

He frowned, "Dr. Brewer If you knew something that should have been told to national security!"

Dr. Brewer gave his fellow Shrink a frightened look, "The problem is the source of the information would not have been believed. And once it happened a Patient's well being and freedom would have been jeopardized." Ironic he thought to himself, but that last part was true. At MPI Cassie was free to do just what she wanted, which was gaze serenely at the sky most of the day, listening to her mysterious source of future knowledge and not be bothered any more than maintenance of her body required. If her talents had become known someone would have exploited her and taken away her "freedom" to be merely a harmless, locked up mental Patient which was all she wanted to be.

They started moving Patients in. Roman called, "hey Doc. This is weird. I did NOT sedate prot even though he asked me to. You saw that, but he does seem to be sedated anyway. I can't seem to wake him up."

Dr Brewer stared at him, a worried frown on his face. Catatonia? He bent down and lifted prot's right arm and to his relief it plopped back down to the grass again. It dawned on him what prot had done and with it a flicker of relief crossed is face. He sat down in the grass next to his Alien Patient and said quietly, "prot, listen to me. You are going to wake up feeling calm and happy. 5.4…"

Before he could get to 3 prot's eyes popped open, "Hey the sessions over!"

Dr. Brewer frowned at him, "You weren't in a session. You put YOURSELF under! Don't do that! What if I hadn't figured it out or I had been called away?"

Prot shrugged, "You know I would eventually have woken up anyway. No one does anything under hypnosis they don't want to do. When I got hungry enough I'd have woke up, believe you me. Hypnosis has nothing over me that a banana can't overcome."

Dr. Brewer laughed. "Oh prot!" He laughed and then he started crying again.

Prot stared at the sky, thinking, "Why do I feel so calm and happy under this circumstances?"

"I couldn't resist. I did that to you. Not my fault. You are the best hypnotic subject I've ever encountered."

Prot smiled and put his arms on his Doctor's shoulders, gazed lovingly into his eyes and said, "Thanks for the mood lift Doctor Gene Brewer."

The Doctor smiled. Prot seldom called him by his full professional name. "Any time, star patient!"

Roman said, "Come on you two. You are taking longer to get in the building than some of the disturbed!"

"Oh sorry!" Prot and Doctor Brewer said it together. They helped one another up and headed into Sachs-Gordon Medical Center.

Isaac, Claire, Josie and the still sedated Cupid alias Trevor Pierce arrived at the Sachs-Gordon Medical Center at the same moment the hospital was trying to process the 400 MPI'ers. "What is going on?" Claire asked.

Isaac who had worked at MPI for a while put two and two together. "I recognize some of them. These are Patients from MPI, which is very close to the World Trade Center. They must have had to evacuate. There's prot, or Robert Porter" He walked over to the calm, sun glassed Mental Patient, "Hi there. Which one are you today?"

"Prot."

"Hi, prot."

"Hi Isaac. Glad to see you. Sorry 'bout why."

"Mutual."

Dr brewer called, "prot come help with Jerry He's waking up."

"Gotta go play patient advocate. An alien's work is never done. Sorry. Bye." Prot turned and rushed off.

Claire stared at him, "So that's the famous prot. He doesn't look that much different from the other Patients. The long term, contentedly institutionalized have a "look" about them and prot's got it. Trevor never had it. He always had that hungry tiger look of a Person who just HAD to be free. That is why I decided to help him live elsewhere than the Sachs-Gordon Medical Center though up until his board hearing he refused to back down on being Cupid and he even turned out to be faking that short regression. I kept quiet because they would have over drugged him again and by the time the Hospital Board found out he'd only been faking sanity he not only had a job he was turning Tres Equis around and that special interest piece had been done about his situation so everyone knew he thinks he's Cupid and apparently almost everyone loves him for it. Since he definitely counts as harmless and ironically is VERY competent even if still very delusional, the board reluctantly let it slide. I don't know what they are going to think about this. He was raving!"

Isaac pointed out, "I'd rave too if I knew the World Trade Center was coming down and the only way to get my beloved Psychiatrist and Friends away from it was to threaten to jump off another building far away from it. Claire, he KNEW. It was just a ruse to save us. He pulled a true, 'Howlin' Mad Murdock,' and he did THAT skillfully too!"

She stared at the orderly thoughtfully, "Isaac you could be right but I'm keeping him in restraints until I hear that from his own lips and I can tell he's telling the truth!"

Off in the shadows of Sachs-Gordon Medical Center admittance room among the bedlam of 400 hundred new very upset mental Patients being admitted and found room for by Doctors and Staff almost as upset, no one noticed a small sparkle of light and a sudden smiling Figure appearing out of nowhere clutching a box of books. One Schizophrenic noticed but the gentle Angel smiled at him and he shrugged it off. He had seen far worse and this one wasn't worth calling attention to. Meds were soothing but sometimes the more harmless hallucinations were less bothersome than a head full of cotton.

Clarence Odbody walked into the light and blended in with the other new Patients. Dr. Brewer and the staff from MPI thought he was one of the Sachs-Gordon Medical Center s and the Sachs-Gordon Medical Center thought he was one of MPI's.

He stood there patiently clutching his books and smiling at anyone who came near him. He was competing quietly for attention with Screamers and Fighters and those who were simply sobbing their hearts out. He was not a squeaky wheel at all. It took a long time for anyone to even notice him.

Isaac finally noticed him standing there patiently and gently asked him, "Hi there, Little Guy. What's your problem?"

Clarence Odbody told the truth, "I am an Angel sent to help here."

Isaac nodded, "Ok. Harmless. You want to room with prot?""

Clarence smiled, "sure."

Isaac unlocked the door to the harmless ward, swung it wide open and the new Patient walked right in without fear, accepting confinement without a peep of protest. That was a good sign he had been long term committed. Isaac told the Cherub, "He's going to be in room 318 soon as he gets done helping us with some of the more disturbed Patients. It's just down this hall, ninth door to the right. You can introduce yourself later. Right now we would appreciate it if you WOULD act like an Angel and keep yourself soothed and out of the way. That really would help us. We're swamped. Sorry. We're just too busy to give you the grand tour."

Clarence smiled at him, "That is alright. I am here to help, not make the situation worse."

"You and prot are going to love one another." Isaac ran off to resedate one of the violent ones.

Clarence thought to himself, "don't be so sure. He's an Agnostic!" He giggled at the very thought.

Prot had a long day and was cheerfully willing to spend some time in his room alone, as was his custom before settling down for the two hours of sleep he needed each night. He swung the door open to his room grinning at the thought of a little quiet time and was surprised to see the cheerful, gentle Angel already inhabiting the other bed.

He stood there and stared at his new roommate, smiling pleasantly but suspecting he had a problem here.

"Hi there!" chirped his new roommate. "I am Clarence Odbody, Angel first class. They are letting me have the privilege of rooming with you. I have heard so much about you. I am so very pleased and honored to meet you!"

Prot smiled and said, "I am ab so LUTEly certain we can be friends. But there's a problem. I only need two hours sleep a night. At mpi I finally got that fact inserted in the staff's heads and they did what they could to accommodate me. They either would give me a room without a roommate or let me stay in the quiet room or rec room unsupervised at night even though it was against policy where I would work on my report or read or even color coloring books. One night I noticed betty, (one of our nurses) had left her camera phone behind. I took all the packs of cards, made a big card castle that went all the way up to the ceiling and took a picture of it. Then I carefully put all the different sets of cards back in their proper little boxes and went and got my two hours. I am sure betty was amazed to find what she found in her camera the next time she checked. I never caused any trouble unless you call that harmless prank trouble. So they let me do so. Tomorrow I will ask for permission to stay in the quiet room or rec room here too. But tonight if I have to stay quiet in this room while you sleep for eight hours I'm going to be pretty stressed. Anybody would be."

Clarence Odbody grinned, "I am an Angel. I only need three hours sleep. Can you manage to be quiet for just one hour?"

Prot grinned, "Now what are the odds of that?"

"It isn't odds. I was deliberately sent here to help you and Robert. Cupid too."

Prot smiled gently, not believing a word of it but too polite to argue. It was a mental hospital he was living in after all. Even now there were many who did not believe him about being from K-PAX. He shrugged, "I would be a fool not to accept all the help I can get! So what kind of help did you have in mind?"

Clarence started speaking to prot in paxo.

Behind his dark glasses prot's eyes grew wide and his jar dropped. He plopped down on the bed and an even bigger grin than usual spread across his slightly unshaven face. "Now there is something I didn't expect to hear on EARTH. You are mispronouncing almost every single word and BADLY too! But the wonder of it is that you can speak paxo at all! My Doctor had paxo translated into English. But that was the written language not the spoken language. No one on EARTH has heard more than a few phrases of it. Gino knows more of it than anyone but you just went way beyond what he knows! How in the UNIVERSE?"

It was Clarence Odbody's turn to give a Cheshire cat grin, "I told you. I am an Angel."

Prot stared at him skeptically, "So you know everything?"

Clarence shook his head, "Oh no. I am not omnipresent not at all, but I was briefed for this mission."

Who taught you to speak paxo?"

"Another Angel who spent some time on K-PAX."

Either he or she or is it, speaks it very badly or you are lousy at languages." Prot grinned. "But it was a sound for sore ears as the humans would put it, never the less."

Prot added, "And you can't exist you know. There is no such thing as Angels!"

Clarence had a twinkle in his cherubic eyes, "And you can't exist either you know. There is no such thing as life in outer space."

Prot grinned, "Now that is true. I never met anyone from outer space."

What do you mean by that? YOU come from….."

"K-PAX, which is a beautiful PLANET. It does float in space, but so does EARTH. So if I am from outer space so are all the EARTHlings. And so, where are you really from? There is no such thing as Heaven!"

You dremers build libraries where the operating systems of your dead go.'

Prot nodded, "But there is a scientific explanation for that. We are the ones who build them, not some God."

Clarence giggled, "Humans build Heaven too, far in the future. But because of General Relativity it already exists. God evolves out of us and space/time circles.

Prot grinned, "Robert used to suspect that. He got the idea from another mental Patient we encountered at mpi. So what you are saying is you are like me? You are a dead human instead of a dead worm who is borrowing a human host? I assume you have some ethics too and the fellow does not mind any more than robert does."

Clarence shook his head, "No prot. This is my own body. At my death enough of it was translated into Heaven and retranslated back down again when I needed it. Matter into energy and energy back into matter. It only takes a few cells as a genetic template to reconstruct my physical body when it is needed."

Prot scratched his chin in wonder, "Sounds like star trek! Humans love star trek so much they must have worked and worked and worked with their incredible predatory tenaciousness to figure out that secret about the UNIVERSE. We didn't bother to. We obtained mirror beaming and that satisfied us."

Clarence nodded, "There are more ways to skin a Cat."

Prot frowned, "Who would want to?"

Clarence grinned, "Not me. I love Kitties."

Clarence munched on one of prot's bananas and continued his little future history lesson. Humans didn't go extinct like the organic dremers did. They went around curved space-time and uploaded everybody including you guys.

"Jesus was uploaded just like everyone else. He is Lord because we want Him to be. No other reason is necessary. He's evolved to omnipresence now. That's just what evolution does.

Prot nodded, "Leave it to humans to build governments even in their afterlife and ALL the way around the time/space curve! Sigh. You never learn!"

Clarence grinned, "but unlike the organics amongst your species WE survive! We eventually incorporated your library system into our own"

Prot grinned, "Resistance was futile?"

Clarence giggled, "and it's shaped like a cube too!"

Prot stared at him, "You caught the reference! You know about star trek?"

Clarence grinned, "Using AI technology we bring fictional characters to life too. I've met Captain Kirk. I've met all of them. They are as self aware as we are. I've got riding in a virtual starship Enterprise. I've been to a virtual Vulcan and Organia."

While prot was handling that news suddenly Doctor Brewer came to their door. "Prot I hate to do this to you, but you are still needed."

Now what Coach?" prot grinned, "Your wish is my command!"

Maintenance needs you to put this dust mask on and beam them over to MPI to salvage, beds, chairs, medical equipment, medicines, and even food. We don't have enough of any of that here and there are Patients with no beds tonight."

Prot got up and walked out the door leaving Gene Brewer to trail after him. He no longer wondered how prot knew where to go without having to be told first. Hardly anything about his Alien Patient surprised him much any more.

Clarence was a little miffed. He spoke into the air, "I could have helped too you know!"

Out of same thin air a fellow Angel said gently, "They don't know that yet Clarence. Gene Brewer still thinks you are crazy. Just pray for them. Things are very hard right now for some of these Patients. Not all of them want to be here as you and prot do and not all of them can adapt to this overcrowding and no outside nature time."

Gently Clarence bowed his head and did so.

The soft, loving presence of God filled his brain like a warm Cosmic Muffin and Clarence willed It to extend to all of Sachs-Gordon Medical Center.

It was the first time the maintenance crew from Sachs-Gordon Medical Center had met prot. They stared at the gently smiling sun glassed Alien dubiously. One said, "He doesn't look any different from any of the other Patients. He's kind of weird like they are. You sure he can actually beam us to MPI, help us get stuff and beam it all back here again?"

Dr. Gene Brewer nodded, "Yes he can. Prot is my Friend and Partner in trying to help his Host Robert and it is Robert who is the real Patient. Prot is neither delusional nor particularly emotionally disturbed and does nothing all day but help us. Any emotional disturbance he manifests is par for the course for a plant eating Alien from a peaceful world being surrounded by unpredictable, violent carnivores especially now!'

"He means us George."

"I got that."

Prot grinned, "I feel fairly confident you guys aren't going to eat me any time soon, carnivorous though you are. I'd taste awful! Surely you have more sense than that. Let's go get the loot!"

Gene said, "prot your are going to have to handle this on your own. I'm needed elsewhere.'

"No sweat gino. I know my way around mpi better than you do and you know it. You just work there. I live there."

As Gene walked off He turned to the maintenance crew. "You know my name. Who are you guys?"

"I'm George."

Mischievously prot said, "And you must be gracey."

"No, I'm not gracey! I'm Bob Sangia."

With firm playfulness prot insisted, "Nope you're gracey. We can't have a george without a gracey, now can we?"

Bob Sangia alias "gracey" said, "I thought your Shrink just said you weren't crazy!"

Prot grinned mischievously, "He said I am not delusional nor emotionally disturbed. No one has ever said I wasn't crazy, not even my own species! Let's go." Prot took out his flashlight and mirror.

The maintenance crew tensed up and shut their eyes tight.

A few seconds later prot said, "You can open your eyes now george and gracey. We're here."

They did. They were amazed. "I didn't feel a thing!" George exclaimed.

Prot grinned at them. "It is mirror beaming not vaccinations." He hurried away to the Patient's bedrooms.

'Gracey" asked, puzzled, "what did he mean by that?"

George said, "They always tell you when they jab you, 'you won't feel a thing.'"

"They lie."

"But this time we really didn't feel a thing!" George smiled with relief.

Yes. We'd better hurry after prot!"

Prot started going in Patient's bedrooms and beaming over beds to the Sachs-Gordon Medical Center parking where fortunately the new asphalt had mostly dried. It was still being blocked off from traffic for this use. Then he went to the elevator and punched in the code for the fifth floor. The Patients weren't supposed to know that code though many did. He went to medical supply. The stuff was locked behind glass.

"Locked." He lamented. "And gino forgot to give us the key."

George shrugged, picked up a copy of the PDR and smashed all the glass. "My responsibility" He reassured the shocked Alien. They made a huge pile of medications, hypodermic needles, alcohol and cotton swabs on Dr. Chakraborty's examination table and prot beamed the whole lot to the Sachs-Gordon Medical Center's medical clinic.

Next they raided the food pantry.

George said, "prot I know you don't like meat but it's just going to spoil so the poor Animals would have died completely in vain. So don't just take the veggies."

Frowning prot nodded, "Ok, but YOU handle the dead bodies. Prot does not DO gory, forensic scenes!

With a sick look on his face he beamed that pile to the Sachs-Gordon Medical Center kitchen much to the surprise of the Janitor who happened to be cleaning the counters at that time.

Prot said, "One more item." He ran back to the elevator and took it to third floor and ran to the craft room. He hunted through the craft supplies until he found what he was looking for and hefted a huge bag of Popsicle sticks out of the cabinet and to his feet. He carefully angled the mirror so it included everyone's reflections including the sticks and aimed his flashlight, "These go with me personally." He explained.

Back at the Sachs-Gordon Medical Center prot didn't even say good-bye to George and "gracey" He grabbed up the Popsicle sticks rushed to the disturbed ward and knocked on the door. When Tom answered he said, "This will calm jerry down better'n anything you can stick into him."

Tom smiled, "You can give them to him yourself prot. Come on. Don't worry We will let you out again. Unlike other poor unfortunate souls. Some of them shouldn't be in here."

Prot listened at the door to one of the isolation rooms, "I believe that is the words to the brady bunch theme song."

"We know. He's been singing it over and over again. I am about ready for sedatives myself!"

Prot shrugged and honed in on Jerry. Tom noticed he didn't even have to be told which room the Autistic was in.

Jerry was on the floor rocking back and forth and moaning. Prot plopped the big bag of sticks next to him and sat down next to him.

Jerry surveyed his present, "Glue?" he asked.

"Whoops."

Tom said, "I'll call our own craft supply room. I think we should have some there."

Prot said, "jerry I was just at mpi. It's still there. It is ok."

"MPI OK?"

Prot nodded, "Yup!"

'Good." The Autistic stared away from prot but he smiled. 'Good, good, good, good, good!"

Isaac came up in a few minutes with some glue.

Jerry set right to work, "I'm rebuilding." He explained.

Ed said, The Normals are tearing down and the Crazies are rebuilding. Figures."

Prot nodded, "A most interesting and poignant obserVAtion. I'm going to my room now and actually sleeping! Isaac you want to do the escorting business? I really don't need it but I would like the company right now."

Sure prot. "We know you don't need it but you know we are supposed to."

Dr Claire Mc Crae walked into the isolation room where Cupid, alias Trevor Pierce had been confined and restrained.

Tom commented, "He's starting to wake up. How did he end up in this mess? I remember him from when he was here before. He was the most cheerful patient we've ever had here. He was running sing a longs all the time. It was amazing how everybody suddenly knew all the words and even some dance steps. Uncanny. I heard he was working at some bar and doing very well. How did he end up back here and in disturbed?"

Claire frowned, "He thinks his father, the god of war brought the Towers down."

Tom whistled, "That would make anybody disturbed!'

Claire nodded sympathetically, "We are all very disturbed right now, Patients and Staff alike. I saw a lady sobbing in Ward B and speaking almost incoherently. I knew she was from MPI because I didn't know who she was. Another MPI member was hugging her and trying to comfort her. I thought she was one of the Patients and it was a Therapist comforting her. It turned out she was a Nurse and her Lover died in the South Tower. The Person hugging her was a paranoid Schizophrenic who has lived in MPI's for 20 over years. The Staff and Patients at MPI do seem to get along. I wish our hospital was doing as well in that area."

Trevor made a noise

Tom said, "He's waking up."

Trevor groaned and tried to feel his head but his right arms wouldn't move. He opened up his right eye and stared at the nonworking arm. It had a leather strap around it. He opened up his left eye and gazed at his left arm. Same situation. "Hey!" he protested vehemently, "Let me go! I am the god of love and I don't deserve to be in such an undignified situation!"

Claire smiled at him, "You did it Cupid! You saved us!"

He closed his eyes again and whimpered, "So I'm not crazy after all, just the Mortal Realm. I want to go home!"

She knew he meant back to Olympus not just the Tres Equis bar. Claire said, "I am sorry, CUPID. She stared at him firmly to make sure he got the point."

He groaned, "I can't believe I'm saying this but please just go back to calling me Trevor. I got used to it and I miss the sound of that name on your lips.

"Ok then, Trevor. Are you going to be ok?

No! I'm homesick, powerless, and extremely hungry. My head pounds like a bunch of Unicorns are using it as a tap dance stage, and you've got me strapped down. How undignified and humiliating! I used to have omnipresence and omnipotence. Now I'm in a mental hospital and to add insult to injury I'm strapped down like I'm dangerous or something."

Claire said gently, "The headache is from the sedative. I am sorry we had to sedate you but I didn't dare risk losing you, Trevor. At least it will pass. It is a good sign you are hungry. Maybe you DO want to live. The kitchen is swamped but I'll run outside to that guy with the cart and get you a hot dog. You like his hot dogs."

Trevor growled, "They're good I admit, but that wasn't the food I really need."

"Trevor the whole town is being bombarded with an outpouring of love from everywhere but from the Taliban. The whole World is on our side right now."

Trevor closed his eyes and groaned, "But that is storing up their hate against the Taliban and vice versa. So there still is just as hate as ever. It has just been moved around a bit."

"I never thought of that."

Trevor shouted at the top of his lungs, "I JUST WANT TO GO HOME, THAT AND YELL AND YELL AND YELL AND YELL AT MY POPS UNTIL I AM BLUE IN THE FACE!"

Claire said gently, "Your Father didn't do this one, Trevor. We Humans did this to ourselves.

Exasperated Cupid said, "Claire, how do you think I knew about it ahead of time?

Cupid alias Trevor shook his head. "Nope. My Pop did this and I'd like to pop him one, too!"

Claire nodded, "I can see why you might."

Cupid/Trevor said, "Except I won't. Much as I want to I'm a Lover not a Fighter. You can certainly remove the restraints now. You must realize I said what I said to trick you into leaving the death area."

Claire rushed forward and started unbuckling him. "Everybody's been saying that. I suspected it. I just needed to hear it from your own lips."

Well read my lips. He pointed at them, "I won't….be….jumping….off…any…buildings. At least not any higher than a foot or two."

"Trevor, jumping off a building for a foot or two does not count as jumping off a building."

Tell that to Félix's dogs. I used their doghouse as a stepping stool a few days ago to reach one of Tres Equi's back windows so I could clean it. When I was done I jumped off. Doesn't a two-foot doghouse count as a building? If it doesn't count as a building what IS it?"

Claire giggled. "I guess you are back to your normal abnormality. I'm relieved!"

Cupid gave her a lop sided grin. "Enough to give me a roll in the hay?

"Trevor!"

Well it would do me good! I've just been through such trauma!" He put his hands up to his forehead and tried to look stressed.

Clair said, "You'll live. But do you want to go home? By that I mean back to Tres Equis

"Yes!" He grinned at her teasingly, "You are my Shrink and you had to ask that?

She nodded at him trying to repress a smile, "I'll sign your release papers. We are doubly crowded here and need to free up every bed we can. They had to evacuate MPI."

Trevor groaned, closed his eyes and lay back on the pillow. "I should have seen that coming. Before I leave I want to visit an old friend.

"Prot is here too."

"Never met him. I meant someone else. Dremers are usually such bores. But I've heard prot is not as much a bore as usual so I guess I'll look in on him. We can revile in each other's celebrity lunatic status. Not that I bet he actually does revile. Don't ever invite dremers to a party. Their idea of a good time is to chew nopka and fall asleep under a balnok tree. They would never have flown planes into buildings."

Clair sighed, "So prot's been telling us over and over and OVER again. He says he sure picked the wrong time to bring his Friend back. Catatonic or not Robert Porter would have been better off on K-PAX. He's right about that. Go see him, Cupid. Misery loves company. You are homesick. He's homesick. We'll start a support group for homesick gods." She grinned mischievously.

Cupid snorted, "Prot is not a god. He is only a 'worm' who doesn't know anything interesting to do with a Host when he's got one. We gods know fun things to do with ours! Which brings up an idea."

Quickly Claire said, "I'll see you later Trevor." She left the isolation room and deliberately slammed the door, locking her Patient in. But she did it out of mischief not concern for his safety. He was going to be ok.

Claire made a note to herself, "god or not, Cupid just finally admitted he is using a Human as a Host which is still just as much for all practical purposes multiple personality disorder as the real prot is inside of the catatonic Robert Porter. So my treatment plan really has not changed. I still have to help him get his one hundred Couples. Because delusional or not Cupid still has to leave for the body's original Owner to regain control."

She went and got Trevor his hot dog and one for herself too. She went back and stood just outside the isolation room, grinning with mischief. Trevor was howling at being locked in and pounding furiously at the door. The god did not take confinement well.

She slid her card and opened the door. "Hmm she said, scratching her chin. "This one seems very disturbed. I'd better call for more sedation."

Trevor growled, "Very funny! Give me that hot dog and let me go! I've got a bar to tend and Lovers to unite!"

"Can I walk to go get the paper work or do I have to run?"

"You can walk if you will just take me with you!"

She said, "well come right on then.

He followed her down the hall meek as a little Lamb now that he wasn't locked in.

She left the disturbed ward with Trevor practically crawling inside her skin.

"Trevor it is considered polite to walk at least a foot and a half away from a Lady."

"I don't want to be separated from you and end up locked up here again due to the confusion."

Trevor I am not going to lose you. They passed an Orderly, "Tom, isolation room 10 is free."

"Thank God! We are having problems with some of the new MPI'ers. They got some really weird Patients there and some violent ones too."

Claire went to the office, grabbed some release papers and signed "Trevor Pierce" out. Once he had them in his hands he hung onto them like they were Snakes trying to escape from him.

So are you going to leave now? We could really use your help calming and cheering up the other Patients."

Cupid shook his head. OK. I'm going to go visit my Friend. Then I'll do another sing a long. I don't mind being here for a while." He waved his papers in the air, "Now that I have THESE to prove I can leave anytime I want!"

Trevor made his way to his old digs; ward B, the harmless ward. He got there and several of the long-term Patients recognized him and ran for a hug. For a few moments he got all the love he needed. He asked, "I'm looking for one of the new Patients, one of them from MPI. Anybody see Cassandra?"

A long bearded Schizophrenic with hair as white as snow pointed towards a forlorn figure in white sitting near the window staring at what was left of the World Trade Center.

Trevor's face fell. He could see she was miserable.

Quietly he went over to her speaking gently in Greek.

He sat down next to her and put her hands on her shoulders, "Little Love why are you so sad?"

"As usual only the crazies would listen to me. So I could not save anyone."

"Damn that curse! Uncle Apollo ought to be horse whipped and hung upside down from a tall tree by certain unmentionable parts of his body!" Trevor reached out his hands and wiped a tear from her cheeks with his finger. "You have a right to reject someone if you want to! And a pox on my Pops for what he just did! I sure found out what you felt like all the time before you thought of just dwelling with the crazies who can believe you. I too today knew something I knew no one would believe if I tried to tell it. I had to act mad to get my Mortal Friends to act on a truth that was madder than I ever could be even if I really _was_ delusional. And you went through that every single day of your life for almost 3000 years! It's a wonder you aren't REALLY crazy after all of that."

Cassie put her head on Trevor's chest. "They could not have believed me if I'd said the sky was blue! So of course they couldn't believe me when I said I'd been raped! Cupid why do we exist? We don't do the Mortals any good or ourselves either! We are a plague upon them, not a blessing! Look at yesterday. Your Father started another war!"

Trevor frowned, "I know he did."

"The Universe would be better if we didn't' exist. We are so mean!"

Cupid said, "Now Cassie that is not always true. People love you and they love me. It doesn't matter whether you are a god, or a Puppy Dog or a Mental Patient or a Tree, if you give love you deserve to receive it, and you have always been loving. You don't have to have anyone believe you about the future to be worth something and we aren't responsible for the sins of our entire species or even our own Family any more than Mortals are. Some of us do bad but some of us do try to do good, and the BIG GUY loves you. Isn't that enough? The buck stopped with Him."

There was a tiny meow at their feet. They looked down. "Snuggles!" Cassandra exclaimed, "I forgot to even ask. So Sachs-Gordon Medical Center let us keep our Animals!"

Trevor beamed, "Now that is what we needed when I was locked up here. Nothing is more loving than a four foot Critter." He picked the little Kitten up and his motor started. He held the Kitten up to Cassie's ear. Hear the coffee grinder going? Now is that worth living for or not?"

Cassie couldn't help herself. She started to smile.

He smiled at her, his face beaming with affection. "You did a very wise thing, finding the one kind of population who COULD believe you. I bet you help them all the time, don't you? After all it was your warning that got everybody In MPI to safety ahead of time. That's not small Potatoes babe." He said the last in English like Humphrey Bogart.

She smiled some more.

Cupid gazed at the office building next to the hospital. You know what would be nice? If Sachs-Gordon Medical Center could buy that land, tear down that building and put in a garden or at least a huge solarium with some fishponds and some water falls. You give Dr. Brewer lottery numbers and he buys tickets and then stuff for MPI don't you?"

Cassie nodded, "But he says only to give him numbers for small wins and we don't do it often because we don't want to draw attention to me."

Trevor said, "You know even People who aren't so connected occasionally win a big pot. Get all the Patients to chip in a few cents and get ONE big lottery ticket and get these poor, cramped folks some outdoor time. Any one would be mentally ill if they have to be locked up 90 days without any nature. Do tell me about it! I was about ready to permanently NEED medication if Claire hadn't helped me get out. And there wasn't anything wrong with me. What if there had been? How could I have stood being under all these fluorescents all that time if I really was crazy?"

Cassie giggled, "You ARE crazy. You just aren't delusional. If you weren't crazy you wouldn't be able to believe me either. Even prot believes me about things. Think about that!"

Cupid exclaimed, "Oh my! You bet I am! You know its true, sometimes my Psychiatrist sounds like my Mother. They BOTH think something is not quite right about me and I may have been kicked down to Earth so I could get help from Claire. But oh how I love you Cassie!"

"You love everybody. You can't help it. You are what you are."

"True, and ain't it grand? Love is what is right about me! He got up and started dancing and singing "Love is what makes the world go round!

Open your eyes and take in everything that you see

Look at all the colors like , yellow, blue, & green

We can take an airplane and fly across the globe

Look down upon the colors, everyone come on, let's go

Because

Love, love, love, la la love

La la love makes the world go 'round

Love, love, love, la la love

La la love makes the world go 'round

Open your ears and listen what the world has to say

Hear the birds & bells and you will have a brighter day

Everyone has a special song deep inside their heart

If you want, you could sing with us, it's the perfect place to start

Love, love, love, la la love

La la love makes the world go 'round

You can't hurt me with the things that you do

I'll pick up dandelions and I'll give them to you

Puppy dogs, kitty cats swimming through love

Love, love, love, la la love

La la love makes the world go 'round

Love, love, love, la la love

La la love makes the world go 'round

The Patients and many of the staff gathered around delighted to have another songfest. They started clapping and then swaying their bodies and then all out dancing. Cupid jumped around like he was Tigger on steroids, "Come on everybody join me!"

It was amazing how everyone suddenly knew the words. Mental Patients, staff and god clapped and sung and danced together, a love song to the Universe. For a few precious moments 9/11 and all their multitude of problems were forgotten.

Isaac looked on and commented, "I can't believe that behavior of his used to irritate me. We need it so bad right now."

Claire nodded, "The Staff too. Look at them join in. I'm ready to go but I think I'll let Trevor be Trevor a while."

"You mean let Cupid be Cupid."

Claire smiled, "Even though he just demonstrated he might indeed really be Cupid and I know he got his Human name off the fresco in the board room he will always be Trevor to me."

Claire let the Patients sing and dance for a while then finally went over and said gently, "Trevor I had to break this up but I have to leave now. You probably ought to go too. That will be safer for you."

Trevor gave everybody one last hug and meekly followed behind his Psychiatrist.

But as Claire slid her card to open the door out of the harmless ward Dr Milton Greely came over, frowning like he had eaten a dozen lemons, "Dr Claire Mc Crae! Whatever are you doing?"

She said, " I'm letting this patient out. I signed his release papers. He doesn't need to be here."

The director said firmly, "absolutely not! This Man made a suicide attempt. He is obviously still delusional about being Cupid and he hasn't even been here the required 72 hours for observation after a suicide attempt. He can't leave yet and you know it.'

Trevor glared at him.

"Isaac and Hector come take this man back to an isolation room."

Trevor stared at the Director trying to negotiate, "Are you sure you want to do that? You are kind of crowded. Excuse the expression but this place is a mad house right now! Why should I take up a bed I don't need when I have a much nicer one across the street where I am VERY SUCCESSFULLY HOLDING DOWN A JOB AND HAVE BEEN DOING SO FOR QUITE SOME TIME._" _Cupid swung his hands like he was underlining what he had just said.

"Sorry Mr. Pierce. You need to stay."

Isaac came up, "Come on Cupid. You know we have to do this. We all have to do what the Director tells us even if we don't like it. If you go quietly it will be so much better for all of us."

Cupid looked heavenwards and made a. 'why me?' gesture as if to implore for help from his Family, then meekly allowed himself to be held by the arms and walked off with.

Claire shot the Director a look that could kill and followed after her Patient.

They took him back to the same isolation room."

"You going to strap me down again too? Is this what is meant by the phrase, "no good deed goes unpunished?" Cupid was not happy!

Isaac stroked his chin, "we are supposed to strap you down. But you know what? We won't!"

Hector said, "Hey! I don't want to lose my job!"

Ed shook his head, "It's alright Hector. He isn't going to harm himself."

Claire nodded, "He won't Hector. Believe me he won't."

Cupid said, "Nice to know at least SOMEONE trusts me not to be a complete idiot!"

Claire stared at him, "Trevor I have to GO. If you can manage to spend the night without pounding on the walls and hollering which would get us in trouble too because you are supposed to be strapped down; I will do my best to persuade them to at least let you back into the harmless ward. And then in two more days they will have to let you go if you stay your usual, harmless self. Because this time you weren't court ordered here for a period of 90-day observation. You are only in for 72 hours suicide watch. Got it?"

The frustrated god sighed and nodded.

He didn't sit on the bed. He went over in the corner of the room and sat down. He closed his eyes and put his hands on his face.

Isaac and Hector quietly slipped out.

Claire said gently, "I have to go now too. I am sorry, but I do. We do have a 'mad house.' right now. We are needed by other Patients who are in a much worse state than you ever were."

He looked up and nodded at her.

Gently she backed out and closed the door.

Isaac said, "I have never been so ashamed of my profession in my life!"

Hector asked, "What was that about?"

Isaac said, "Come, let's go see to the other Patients. I'll explain on the run."

Alone in his room except for his Family who could hear him but he couldn't hear them; Trevor did his best to pass the time. "One hundred bottles of beer on the wall, one hundred bottles of beer."

Tom listened at the door and sighed, "AH gee whiz we have another singer!"

Meanwhile back at Tres Equis, Cupid's boss, Felix looked twenty years older than he had just a few hours before. The bar was packed. People were coming looking for comfort, looking for Cupid because no one but that gentle wise madman would be able to cheer them up now! Unfortunately of course, not only was Cupid not there, his whereabouts were missing! Claire had been so proud of her new office in the World Trade Center and when Cupid wasn't at Tres Equis he almost always was with Claire. He would wait in her waiting room even when he didn't have a session scheduled just so he could talk to her during breaks and to Josie. For a man who claimed at one time he could see the entire Universe he sure didn't' get out much and didn't seem to need to. The prognosis for either one of them still existing in 'the mortal realm" was not good"

When his cell phone rang Felix whipped it out faster than a gunslinger. When he saw the number he had to sit down quick. 'It's Claire!" He hollered to the whole room who reacted with gasps of the fist hope they'd felt in hours. He signaled for everyone to be quiet and exclaimed, "Claire! You're alive! Is there any chance that Trevor is?'

Claire rattled off hardly even taking a breath. "Yes, he's going to be fine, I think. Our fallen love god pulled a PERFECT Howlin' mad Murdock to lure me away from the World Trade Center and he did so in such a way he took the maximum amount of other people with us. He saved hundreds! Somehow he knew Felix! He knew ahead of time! He says his father told him. I won't admit to anyone I'm telling you this but I BELIVE him. I say a perfect Howlin' Mad Murdock because most Howlin' Mad Murdocks are done imperfectly. It is normal people pretending to be crazy. To do a perfect Howlin' Mad Murdock you have to do it the way Murdock did, be truly crazy but pretend to be much worse. I don't care if Cupid really is the god of love, he's messed up and he knows it. I'm not supposed to say things about a Patient behind his back but right now I'm not talking as his Doctor. If I were talking as his Doctor I couldn't even legally tell you where he is. I'm talking as his friend to another friend because I need comforting as much as anyone else right now and all his other friends need to know he is sort of all right and I know he won't mind. He could sue me for this conversation but we both know he won't. He has said many at time we ought to put our sessions on a web cam because such entertainment shouldn't hit 'the cutting room floor' and Mortals ought to get to listen in like the gods do. He's nuts of course and as usual at the same time wiser than the rest of us. If a few Mental Patients were allowed to do that what we Shrinks do would be demystified quickly and millions more would have the courage to get help. But of course I have to live in Reality Space so I can't do that even if it would be the best thing in the world to do.

'I'm rambling. I know it. I have to. I have feelings too. The Doctor needs doctoring! Just bare with it Felix

Felix's face was the look of an Angel, "Claire I just heard you are alive and Cupid is too and going to sort of be all right which is the best we can hope for a man who thinks he's immortal and from Olympus. So ramble on! Hang on a second though. I'm letting everyone know.

He got up on the karaoke stage grabbed the mic and announced, "Folks I have the first good news we've had in hours. Cupid and Claire are both ok!'

Claire said, "put your phone on speaker phone and hold it up to the mic. Felix did so. The room heard "To Hell with Doctor Patient confidentiality! Let's do it like they do it Olympus for a few minutes; everybody knowing everything about everybody! The world is insane right now. Time to listen to the wisdom of a Mad Man! I wouldn't do this to any other Patient, but I know Trevor wants everybody to know all about him. He'd put his psychiatric file on the net if I'd let him! Here's to omnipresence! I lose my license. I don't care! I'm not sane myself right now. Here is what is going on with Cupid.

1. He knew the World Trade Center was coming down. 'His father told him.' That's what he said. At this point I don't know what to think. Cupid doesn't hallucinate, not usually. He doesn't have that kind of mental illness. But he did this time, or did he? Because most hallucinations don't give you correct information. Apparently the one time he did hallucinate what he heard was deadly true.

2. He pulled a perfect Howlin' Mad Murdock to lure Josie and me and as many people as he could persuade to come with us out of the World trade Center just a few minutes before the planes hit.

"He did so by pretending to faking a suicide attempt. That was just about the only way he'd have got me out of my office on a busy work day. He knows me too well! But it worked. I'm alive and so are a lot of other people!

"Unfortunately I didn't figure out it he was just pulling a Howlin' mad Murdock until I recommitted him to Sachs. That is where he is now. He's in the disturbed ward because Dr. Greely thinks he needs to be there. I don't think he needs to be in the hospital at all. Of COURSE he's disturbed, duh! Anybody check Reality Space lately?

But the minute they locked him in an isolation room it became self -fulfilling prophesy With no one real to talk to our gregarious love god is hollering and hollering in Greek at his father 'the god of war who he is blaming for this current mess. That doesn't make him look sane and it doesn't give him much of a chance of getting out of there. It's prayer not hallucination; because as far as I know Pops isn't talking back any more, just that one time. But a man hollering into an empty room in a foreign language doesn't look like he belongs out of the disturbed ward. The more he's isolated, the more disturbed he gets and the more disturbed he gets the less likely his chances are to get out of there.

So whatever real Higher Power you believe in our fallen god of love needs lots and lots of prayer right now, and please write him too! And please put as much pressure as you can on Dr. Greely to let him out. A man is taking up a bed at taxpayers expense in a hospital that doesn't need to be there, love god or not. It's doubly crowed because MPI had to evacuate they were right next door to…. Ground Zero." (Claire didn't realize it but by calling it Ground Zero she was giving the disaster area its name). "We need that bed freed up for other Patients and Cupid needs to be out of there and "

Felix interrupted, "Tres Equis needs its friendliest Barkeep and PR man back!"

The room exploded in applause for Claire's courage and the fact she and Cupid were alive!

Somehow Claire suspected she was NOT going to lose her license.

***

The next day Dr Brewer had his first post 9/11 "therapy" session with his Prophetess. Usually she would spend the time trying to remind her how important it was to keep eating and how it would free up the Staffs time if they didn't' have to spoon feed every bite that went into her mouth. But this time he was full of questions.

"Cassie, we have always called you Cassie because you would never tell us your real name. But are you the real Cassandra?"

She smiled mysteriously at Gene Brewer, "Doctor you should not be encouraging such wild fantasies in an easily impressionable Mental Patient."

"But you can speak Greek. You did so with Cupid. He called you Cassandra before we even introduced you. He certainly has met you before."

She smiled, "He might have read K-PAX. I am mentioned in there."

That still would not have told him what you looked like.

She giggled, "He is a god."

"With a self admitted serious loss of omnipresence. No. He just recognized you from somewhere."

Cassie grinned, I am not admitting to anything, but just to humor you I will say I am indeed the original Cassandra. I am cursed to always know the future but for no one sane to ever believe me."

But not just the Patients believe you Cassie. Most of the Staff does too. I certainly believe you."

She smiled, "Most Doctors and Nurses and Orderlies who work around the Crazies are crazy enough themselves to believe. That's why you want to be around us."

"Cassie what do you want us to do for you?"

Sachs-Gordon Medical Center has no Back 40."

"No it doesn't. It is a short-term psychaitric facility. It's not like MPI where some of our Patients have to stay their entire lives."

"I need to be outside so I can hear the Future talk to me."

Dr Brewer sighed, "Cassie I'll see about setting up a lawn chair and a table in the medium strip the parking lot. I don't know what else to do. I'll explain to the Director at Sachs-Gordon Medical Center you are not in any danger of trying to escape."

She smiled, "It will do."

Dr. Brewer smiled at her.

Then she asked, "What is going to happen to MPI?"

Dr. Brewer stared at her surprised, "You have to ask me that?"

"I haven't been able to get outside since we were taken in here."

"Oh." He frowned, "I forgot. I'm sorry. The building escaped any destruction but the wall was breached by falling debris near that beautiful old oak tree where Russell's cremains were sprinkled. The tree lost a limb. Poor thing! But it will live. The wall will have to be repaired. Right now anyone could get out. That would not really be a problem, but anyone could get in, too."

Cassie got a far away look, "When I was first brought to MPI I used to look at that wall and feel really bad. It meant I was trapped. But then as the peace of MPI took over my soul I began to realize it wasn't there to keep us in. It was there to keep the Normals out. So my feelings toward it changed. I started looking at it and feeling safe."

Dr. Chakraborty nodded, "I've actually heard that before, and from some of us Doctors too. It keeps all the Hustle and Bussle of New York out and we move at a slower, healthier rhythm. It will be repaired and we can all go back to paradise as soon as possible, I promise."

"Fixing a wall shouldn't take very long!"

Dr. Brewer frowned, "The problem is the dust. The air is not safe to breath near our precious paradise right now, and every body in town who can do construction who isn't working on more important structures is busy shifting through Ground Zero trying to find live humans and human remains for the sake of forensics. No one has time to just fix just a WALL even if the air were safe."

Cassie nodded sadly. "So we are going to have to stay here for quite a bit longer. She added, "Cupid says even People without Prophetesses win big sometimes. I should find out which lottery ticket is going to win big and we should use the money to buy the office building next door, tear it down and put in a garden for the Patients."

Dr. Brewer smiled, "I'll have a top secret meeting with all our original staff and discuss it. The trick is to figure out who "wins the money" and then how to "launder it" so no one can trace it in any way back to you."

She nodded, "I trust you can do that, Dr. Brewer.

He smiled, "It's nice to be trusted. I spent the morning trying to convince a paranoid that I wasn't sent from the CSI to read his mind and poison his liver with the secret cosmic rays in my eyeballs. You are a refreshing change!"

Cassie smiled.

"And Cassie if you are refusing to eat is your way of pulling a "howlin' mad Murdock to get to stay here, please stop. I am not going to throw you out just because the Staff no longer has to fight to get every chunk of food into you we can manage. We love you, plus thanks to the healthy stock portfolio Dr. Chakraborty set up for you, you are one of the few Patients who pays her own way and then some!

She frowned, "I really don't feel like eating."

***

It is a horrible thing to be the god of love and also the son of the god of war when 9/11 just happened and you are stuck living among the Mortals powerless to help in any way whatsoever and thought a Lunatic!

Cupid had a lot to talk about with his Father and he did so for a very long time in a very loud voice. The louder and longer he hollered the more mentally healthy he felt but the more disturbed he seemed.

Then just suddenly as the ending of a hurricane the hollering in ancient Greek to an apparently empty room, stopped.

Isaac was guarding Disturbed during this Miracle. He was actually a little worried. He entered the mad god of love's room with some concern.

Trevor was just sitting there calmly on the floor in the corner, his eyes closed but obviously awake. There was a tired and resigned little smile on his face. He looked like a man who had finally made peace with his God.

Isaac said, "Well! You don't seem angry with your father all of a sudden, Cupid! Why all did the hollering in Greek suddenly just stop?

Cupid opened his eyes and gazed at his friend and needle-sticker. "My Pops and I finally had a nice long talk! Call it a hallucination if you must but it sure wasn't mere imagination. I really HEARD him! But what he said brought me more peace than any of that brain fuzz you have been required to keep pumping into me!"

Isaac cocked his head and smiled respectfully, "What did he say? I think any hallucination of Trevor Pierce's would be wiser to listen to than 99 percent of the jaw flapping, Normals hear with their ears!

Trevor smiled. 'You Isaac are one of those rare souls either in this realm or back home in Olympus that truly understands me!

"Thank you."

Cupid smiled warmly, "No thank YOU!

Isaac asked, "So what did he say? I really want to know?

Cupid smiled, "You're better to my mental health than any Shrink you know that you, walkin' tall Orderly? Because you DO want to hear! They just want to jot for their precious files.

Isaac nodded and smiled.

Trevor continued, "My Pops said

As long as Mortals grow

Millions of acres of pretty, green grass

And spend their personal energy

Playing sports and nonproductive games

Instead of scratching in their dirt,

Growing food to feed the hoards of

Starving Kids and Critters!

Until Mortals find

Better methods of birth control

Than slicing up self-aware,

Pain-feeling Fetuses

With whirling scalpels

Doing so without anesthesia!

Until Mortals spend their time and money

Colonizing the asteroids

Terrascapeing the planets

Instead of wasting their resources

On works of fiction,

Shiny new cars

Brand new clothes

And competitions!

Until every being has good medical care Regardless of their amount

Of money,

Feet.

And hair!

Until every child conceived is

Wanted,

Hugged,

Cuddled,

Taught to socialize

And read to

While sitting on a lap!

Until all schooling is home schooling

Or done in small-enough classes

That Mob-brain and Group-think

Don't become the substitute for nurturing!

Until individual feelings and needs are Worth more

Than regulations and policy!

Until every belly and heart and mind is full!

Until Mortals figure out

How to share Green Earth

With all its other equally worthy

Living Works of Art

Instead of thinking

Most every patch of greenness

Automatically belongs to Humans!

Until there is enough sex in the world to make even you (Eros) happy,

So no unwilling Mortal

Ever goes to bed alone!

Until that happy day

They are not such a problem to the Universe

In larger numbers

Your Pops will proudly thin their herds!

Or do you suddenly want

All the would-have-been

Offspring and descendants

Of all those killed by war

All the hungry mouths

And souls

Since

Cro Magnon Cain

Killed Neanderthal Able?

To suddenly exist

And demand their share?

Choose War or choose that!

***

That might the Director finally reluctantly let Trevor out of isolation to spend his last day of observation in the harmless ward. Prot and Clarence were in their room when "gracey" pushed another bed through the door. "What is going on?" the Alien asked, "With another bed in here we will have to squeeze out sideways to get in and out."

"Sorry Guys but we are so crowded you are getting another Roommate.

Trevor Pierce walked in being escorted by his friend, Isaac.

Prot grinned, "An angel, an alien and a god. " Someone has a sense of humor!"

Clarence grinned, "Maybe they are doing it alphabetically. Alien, Angel and then a g work, 'god.'"

Trevor squeezed in and climbed in his bed, "Don't be ridiculous even if you are crazy. They are grouping us by symptoms. We are the delusional but not schizophrenic Patients. That's why they've got us rooming together.

Clarence said, "Sure it isn't 'the non-Earth beings' room?"

Trevor raised his arms and gazed at the Heavens imploring his Family for sanity to descend.

Prot asked, "Trevor how much sleep do you need?"

"At least 8 hours. Why do you ask?"

Clarence and prot looked at one another. Prot squeezed past the foot of Trevor's bed and grabbed his flashlight and mirror. "Hey angel, wanna for an old fashioned mirror beam?"

"I thought you'd never ask!"

"Where?'

"Bedford Falls. I want to see how it's grown.

Prot cocked his head, "Does that place even exist?"

Clarence nodded, "Sure it does. It's really called Seneca Falls. It's near here.

"You know how to get there?"

I know how by MY way of travel.

Prot said, "Then can I hitch a ride with you instead?"

"Sure."

Prot grabbed up a banana. "Gotta take a little snack. How 'bout you?"

"I snuck cookies in my pocket from lunch today." Clarence felt his pockets. They are a tad crumbly but I can still fish the pieces out and eat them."

Then we are good to go. By "Cupid." We'll be back about 3 pm to get some sleep. Obviously don't wait up."

Clarence and prot disappeared.

Trevor stared at the suddenly very empty spots where they had been standing.

He groaned. Into the empty room he either talked to himself or talked to his Family, "I wonder if I could ASK for a sedative and not end up spending more time here?"

The next morning the god awoke to find his roommates in their own beds and a "Seneca Falls is A Wonderful Life for Lovers" bumper sticker stuck to Clarence's book box."

He smiled and closed his eyes to get a bit more of a snooze, "At least they have the right idea!"

Later that day Trevor nervously did the "Picard maneuver" on his hospital gown and did the best he could to brush down his cowlick. But omnipotence had never extended to him being able to tame it. He glanced at his Psychiatrist, "Claire I have NEVER been this terrified in my entire 3000 years! At the last hospital board I was doing a good job of faking thinking I was a Mortal but now they KNOW I still know I'm Cupid. Plus how DO I handle the so called suicide attempt?"

Dr. Claire Mc Crae said, "I feel the same way. I say we have two strategies. One, be REAL repentant and embarrassed about the "suicide attempt" and promise to take the antidepressants I am going to prescribe for you. I am too. I want you to religiously flush one down the toilet every day and keep filling your prescription. The outpatient commitment board checks that sometimes. They call the pharmacy and make sure you keep filling your prescription and a psychiatric social worker comes and counts your pills. Antidepressants can be Godsends for People who really need them, but you don't.

Trevor asked, "Flushing them is not good for the environment." They go into the water supply. May I bury them in a water tight container instead?"

"If you do so every day and are very careful no one sees you do it. You can't be caught with the ones you supposedly already took."

"What is other strategy do you suggest?"

"We tell the truth. You knew ahead of time what was going to happen to the World Trade Center and so you pulled a Howlin' Mad Murdock to lure us away from the danger. I will back you up. Isaac, myself, Josie heard you mention the Towers were coming down. They can't think WE are all hallucinating too!"

Trevor gave her a frightened look. "Want to make a wager on that? I could use really use the money if I am recommitted."

Trevor couldn't help staring at the words curved behind his examining Psychiatrists head, the words that had given him the idea for his Mortal name. "the world felt the _tremor_, and the darkness was _pierced._" He did his best to look truly contrite and embarrassed, "It was just a momentary lapse of judgment and I am so embarrassed and I promise it will never happen again! I must point out in my favor I did at least call out to my Psychiatrist for help indicating how very deeply I value her therapeutic presence in my life and I trust her very much. She is helping me a great deal." He smiled at Claire. That last part was the truth.

They frowned at him. Ah oh that was not good. Trevor shrunk a little in his chair.

Claire took over, "He did call me! He reached out for help in his moment of darkness, which is what a Mental Patient should do during times of crisis. The support system we have set up for him WORKED proving he does not require further confinement.

Their faces didn't even move a muscle. Finally Dr. Greely said, "I think the fact he threatened suicide at all indicates that even though he seems very joyful most of the time he is emotionally unstable and his moods could change rapidly at any time, resulting in successful self harm next time. "

Trevor stared at him in disbelief, "Excuse me is that ME you are talking about? Because if it is I don't recognize myself."

Dr. Greely said firmly, "Patient demonstrates a steady history of little insight and a continued heavy delusional state that is so deeply ingrained into him that it seems the entire City of New York is calling him 'Cupid' more than they call him, 'Trevor Pierce.' It is the most incredible example of folie à plusieurs I have ever encountered in my long, illustrious career! It must be stopped!

Trevor was thinking to him self, "_We may have solved the energy crisis. If only we could collect all this hot air!" _A smile twitched across his lips but only for a second.

Claire said, "Oh come on Milton. So what if he thinks he's Cupid? He's not only holding down a job and managing his own affairs. He's excelling at it. Haven't you seen the sign on the Cantina XXX, 'Come on in the service is divine'? People enjoy having their drinks served by a maybe-god. They come to Tres Equis and are never disappointed because Trevor is a ham and works it for all it's worth. Plus he has an amazing ability to juggle bottles and throw darts and you KNOW how he can get a room to singing and dancing. Maybe that does look strange in a mental hospital but at his place of work, a bar it is a useful talent. He's a genius of a bar tender!"

Dr Greely continued." Trevor is no god. He is a delusional Human with deeply buried trauma that could surface again at any time and cause another suicide attempt.

Trevor stared at him and said, "There are more things in Heaven on Earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy, Horatio."

Dr. Greely said, "patient doesn't even know my name. He thinks I'm someone called Horatio.

Trevor growled, "Oh come on. I do not! I was quoting Shakespeare!"

Dr. Greely stared at him, "Have you met Shakespeare?"

"I me…." Trevor started to say, then stopped himself. But it was too late. Everyone in the room could tell what he had been about to say.

Grimly Dr Greely said, "Do we need any more proof?"

He continued, "patient is to remain at Sachs-Gordon Medical Center for a period of 90 days, or longer if he has not improved by the end of that period."

Trevor groaned and put his head down on the table.

Claire jumped in, "Dr Greely I didn't want to say this but I must. Somehow Trevor Pierce knew ahead of time that the World Trade Center was going to come down. He knew no one would believe him so he made a fake suicide attempt to coax me away from my office in that building. He saved my life. He saved my Receptionist, Josie's life and about five hundred or more other People who rushed after us to try and talk him down. They all would have been killed if he hadn't tricked us into being elsewhere than at Ground Zero at the fatal moment."

Dr Greely stared at them, "That puts icing on this distasteful cake. Dr. Claire McCrae I am not only declaring your Patient incompetent and a danger to himself and others and in need of long-term confinement and intense medical attention. I am removing you from being his Psychiatrist! He needs a Doctor who has not become so emotionally attached. You have fallen under his admittedly amazing charms and are no longer showing sufficient subjectivity if any. Dr Greely turned to Dr Ion Frachet who was nodding approvingly. "I shall take over his treatment myself. This Patient requires a firm hand."

***

Gene Brewer had searched all over Sachs-Gordon Medical Center. He ended up in the rec room right where he had started his search.

He called out to the room, "Anybody seen prot?"

Hector came over and whispered in Gene Brewer's ear. "Don't tell the Director but prot and Cassie are on the roof."

Calmly Gene Brewer asked, "Roof?" What are they doing up there? I know its not to jump off.

Hector explained, "It is giving Cassie some time to commune with the Future and it is giving prot a few minutes of peace and quiet. We are running him more ragged than some of the Staff. There doesn't' seem to be a single crisis he can't solve, except his own."

Gene nodded, "I don't blame either one of them. Hector I tried to talk the Director into letting Cassie have some harmless time outside to commune with her Future Friends. But you know what he said? 'You should be doing everything you can to discourage hallucinatory behavior, not accommodating it. Absolutely not!' So prot found a way to get Cassandra outside when I couldn't. Good. More power to the both of them."

Dr. Gene Brewer sighed, "Hector this is not a happy place. Patients aren't allowed to just be themselves. You lock Autistics up in isolation here just for rocking and flapping. That is THEIR way of handling stress and even expressing great joy. Who is to say their way is abnormal and the Neurotypical ways of expressing the same emotions are normal? Anyway how does it hurt anything? Jerry doesn't belong in isolation. He is loved and wanted back at MPI and his Popsicle creations are amazing and admired. You know the director took Jerry's Popsicle sticks away from him again just because he was making a bit of a mess? No wonder he started screaming and hollering. I think almost any Artist would if their media was snatched away from them and they were expected to then do nothing all day long, day after day, week after week.'

Hector nodded his head, "and they won't let Cupid go back to Tres Equis and he wants to so badly! He doesn't need to be here."

Gene Brewer nodded, "The only reason prot isn't in a half way house is he LOVES being institutionalized. He's locked up but it's HIS choice, and I am sure glad we have him because our Alien Patient is doing his best to make this place the most Human.

Hector nodded, "and our fallen god from Olympus is doing that too. What is wrong with encouraging the Patients to sing and dance? Is it hurting them? Is it dangerous behavior? It sure cheers them up! The Staff too."

Gene Brewer shuttered, "The dust is settling. I hope we can get out of here soon. But may the real God help the Patients who will remain stuck here!

***

Prot came squeezing into their room and lay face down on his bed. He took off his sunglasses and placed them on his tiny nightstand. Despite being someone mood blind Clarence could see there were tears in his eyes. Prot pulled the covers over him and gave in to all out sobbing.

Clarence sat Buddha style on his bed. He gave his roommate a sympathetic look. "Alien heal thyself," ay? Everyone else you help but yourself you cannot help."

Quietly prot sobbed, "no, robert."

He rolled back over on his back, stuck an arm out from under the covers, felt for his sunglasses, found them, put them on and popped out from under the covers. He said "Doctor Brewer hypnotized me again today. He can't find robert, not at all. It is like he developed the ability to switch hosts as I can and has just left. But he can't. I know that. He's only human. But neither one of us can find him, and we are trying! We are trying so very hard!" Prot's voice broke up again in chest shaking sob. "Dr. brewer says if we can't get him to surface next time he'll have to try sodium penthathal. I concur though I don't know what that will do to me. I don't know what else to do either!"

Clarence lacking neurotypical social insight to know to make am empathic facial expression but still full of wisdom, grinned at prot because he knew something the Alien didn't know.

Prot, aware of his roommate's Asperger's syndrome knew he was not grinning out of meanness and took no offence. He asked, "I know you. You never grin for meanness. Your grinning means you know something useful to me that I do not know and you just can't wait to tell me."

Clarence leaned back in his bed and stared at the stains on the ceiling. They would have made a great Rorschach test. He drawled, Let's review and try to figure out what Robert's problem is. He has a loving Alien living right inside of him who thinks the Universe of him and would do just about anything for him including continually leaving his happy home to keep come rescuing him. It's not as good as asking Jesus into one's brain to save and debug it because it comes with no networking privileges and no guarantee of future uploading of one's operating system to a better hardware system. But as far as Oxytocin goes it's a close second. Robert's brain is continually bathed in love juice. You dremers do that very well."

Prot shrugged, "It's an involuntary survival mechanism. Keep the host happy; your species stays wanted. Any being on K-PAX who feels a dremer trying to enter him or her relaxes and lets it happen or even feels joy about it. We wouldn't be having so many problems if we just had enough hosts. The dead ones in the library are competing with the few lives one's we've left.

Clarence nodded, "And Robert has a loving Wife who fell in love with him when her Husband was considered quite mad. In fact she met the "Delusional Persona," first and fell in love with Robert just on his chemistry, alone. She hadn't even met him. Then she waited five years while her future Husband was catatonic on the promise of that "Delusional Persona" that he would be back to try and get Robert going again. There was no guarantee at all, but this fine, intelligent, loving woman waited for Robert. She loved and still loves him that much.

"Then she had the courage to mirror beam with you, and mind you, prot that took courage! Yes, you know how to mirror beam but some very mad Humans have invented some incredible things before. Look at Tesla and John Nash. You could have been mirror beaming her Son and Her Dog and herself into the vacuum of Space or to the very real but uninhabitable K-PAX. She had no way of knowing. That took faith, prot, and you say there is no reason or need for faith!" The little Angel gave his Alien roommate a loving smile.

"And then he has Gene JR, a smart, witty, intelligent, brave young Man who is getting a wonderful education and who will be the ipso factor leader of an entire WORLD someday which he will inherit from his Father and Mother, not that it's a stressful job. The Humans on K-PAX look to your Host and you as possible saviors who might have given the Human race a second chance. Your species, the dremers feel the same, and are an incredible extended family to Robert Porter's young Son; an entire ancient civilization of proud Aunts and Uncles. The whole Porter Family is deeply honored everywhere they go for they represent a potential source of enough Hosts to stop your specie's decline.

"And he has Oxeye. Just having a Dog has kept many a Human going under much less pleasant circumstances.

Prot nodded, "I can see what you are getting at quite easily. Robert Porter has no reason to disappear, not now, not THIS time.

Clarence nodded, "His first ten year bout of catatonia made a certain amount of psychological sense. His first Family had been murdered and he killed the Guy who did it. Remorse or grief makes an adequate psychological reason for letting an Alien take completely over one's brain if you happen to have one handy.

Cupid who had been listening nodded firmly at this.

Clarence continued, "His second bout of catatonia now, that made less sense. Yes, seeing his young Son in his bath water reminded him of how he mercy killed his suffering Father but surely by that time Dr. Brewer and you had him trained to seek help not disappear again. But still we could say it was a reason."

Clarence gazed at prot for a few seconds, as much eye contact as the Aspergian could stand. He then he broke away and continued to stare at the ceiling. "But this last bout. Why, prot, why?"

Prot sighed and gazed at the floor, "That's what my shrink and I can't figure out.

Clarence said, "My Boss has a saying, 'the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak." Or as it might be said these days, it's a hardware bug not a software bug."

Prot stared at Clarence.

"Look at it from a different light; not how his mind is standing his life, but his BODY! He has an Alien who only needs two hours sleep a night living right inside of him. Let's face it, prot you were a mean, widdle Kid. You were as now an attention seeker. You never really let little Robin have a good night's sleep his whole childhood. As he got older he learned to shut you up, but it wasn't easy and he didn't always succeed.

"Then he married and became a Father. No Parent of a young Child ever gets enough sleep. It just doesn't happen. But he was already severely sleep deprived. Then there was his job, knocking Cows to stun them before killing all day long with a huge sledgehammer. That is emotionally distressing big time for anyone with any compassion. What a strain on one's adrenals! But it was also physically exhausting labor and he did it day after day, sometimes even on Saturday, the original Sabbath day. Humans are supposed to goof off one day a week for a reason. Humans need it. But Robert Porter seldom did so.

"Plus he had that party-loving Alien in his brain."

"Then came the tragedy. His Family was killed. That just about shut his adrenals down, prot. Then you had control of the body and wandered the Earth for five years. It a fun, but again for the body it was stressful. You only need two hours sleep so your Host had to get what little sleep he could while the body he was in kept moving, moving, moving, and often talking and trying to sing too. Clarence grinned, "Your singing alone would wear anybody's adrenals out if they had to hear it for hours on end!"

"I only did it when I was alone to keep my spirits up.

"But, prot, you were never alone!

"So you end up in a cushy mental hospital and finally leave and for five years Robert Porter gets enough rest, finally, not that catatonia is all that relaxing but it was better than he had been getting. You come back. He manages to wake up with a lot of coaxing and will power. So for a while things look good. You leave. He marries and goes back to school and becomes a Father again and so between college, work and being a new Father again he gets very little sleep. His adrenal glands start to shut down again. Seeing his Kid in the tub and the stressful memories it brought was the last straw. He senses he's going to need you, calls out to you to come and he goes back to resting again. It is about all he can do. By taking over his body you again saved his life though you didn't' even realize it because he was near death by that point. You then take him to K-PAX, which is hot and heavy and dark. Other than it not being an ideal environment for Humans it would be a fairly stress free place but still he still gets little sleep with you inside of him. Plus you are walking all over the place foraging for food because that is what dremers like to do. Plus now he is eating your kind of fodder; lots of fructose, not much protein, not many B vitamins. It is possible for a Human to do just fine on a Vegan diet, but not the one he was being fed. It's a wonder he managed to wake up for even a few weeks under those circumstances. He really loves you and his Family and was trying really hard. But eventfully his adrenals just couldn't take it any more. They were failing for a very long while. They eventually shut down completely."

Clarence smiled gently, "Prot, your Host is just plain sick, not mentally sick, just sick. He'd be dead if you weren't inside of him keeping him alive. Your host's body needs a shot of B vitamins and then regular supplementation and he also needs cortisol to make up for what his adrenals can no longer produce. He could also do with a lot more Omega 3 and more protein. It doesn't have to be meat but it shouldn't be soy. Soy is hard on the thyroid glands and his hormone system is already in big trouble."

"How come I don't feel his problem?"

Clarence shrugged, "Your own body temporarily rewrites most of his DNA when you take over. You know that. Remember how shocked Gene Brewer and Dr. Chakraborty were when they did blood tests and your DNA was different from Robert Porter's? You live in him and use him as a shell and as a Friend and Family but you aren't him and you know it."

***

Prot sat down before his beloved Psychiatrist trying to figure out how to tell him an Angel disagreed with his prognosis.

"I have something to tell you." Said prot. "As jazzy would put it, "You will not be believing it."

Gene Brewer smiled. Prot had imitated the Indian Doctor perfectly.

Prot continued, "You know anything about my roommate, clarence odbody?"

Gene Brewer stared at him in surprise and started laughing, "You ended up with him for a room mate? Oh my! That's perfect! An Alien who doesn't believe in God and a Mental Patient who thinks he's an Angel from a Frank Capra picture rooming together in a psyche ward!" Oh my!"

Prot gave his Doctor a broad grin, which was as close to laughing as he usually showed. Dremers feel humor but show it a different way than laughing and so to prot affecting a laugh seemed dishonest most of the time. "We find it terribly amusing too, and so does Cupid when he isn't feeling sorry for himself."

"Cupid is in your room too?" Oh ho ho ho!"

Prot shrugged and grinned. "I think some higher power has a sense of humor."

A higher power, Prot" That is amazing. I didn't know you believed in one."

"Yes." Prot grinned, "I do: whoever it was who thinks up which mental patients bunk where!"

It took a while but Gene Brewer managed to stop laughing. Then he said, "Well to answer your question, yes, I know of Clarence Odbody. Bill called me about him when he was transferred. He insisted you were going to be coming here so he was to be transferred here so he could help you. I suppose it is unavoidable that there would be Mental Patients with enough insight to realize they need help who would start incorporating delusions about your very real Planet and mental hospitals into their confabulations as a way of surreptitiously attracting that help. After all you are an Alien AND a Mental Patient. That makes you very attractive to the kind of People who are so stressed they need to escape from reality with such a confabulation. So yes, I heard of Clarence. What is amazing is he shows signs of having whatever Cassie has. He somehow knew you were coming here and wouldn't be at MPI.

Prot nodded, "And he can speak paxo.'

"What!?"

"Very badly, gene but I can understand him."

"How?"

"That is the 64 thousand dollar question."

Prot let his Psychiatrist deal with that for a few moments. Then he added, "And he has his own way of traveling. He doesn't' require a flashlight or a mirror. I've been to disney land, japan and have the mouse ears to prove it and I've been to bedford, I mean seneca falls and we have the bumper sticker to prove that too, and I didn't use my mirror and flashlight."

"Mouse ears?" Gene Brewer stared at his Patient skeptically.

"Back in my room, gino, please! If I were going to start hallucinating I'd pick a better thing to start with than mickey mouse hats! Anyway he has a theory about robert porter you need to seriously consider. He thinks he might have addison's disease and be malnourished.

"But YOU are running around and in his body and it looks muscular enough.""

Prot explained, "My being in his body may be hiding it because I am what is keeping his muscles strong, but I can't do the same thing to the glands themselves because those are attached to his nervous system and hence his mind. I don't take over those. I use my own."

"But aren't you and him living in the exact same body? How can you function if he can't?"

Prot shook his head, "Not quite the same thing, gene. You know our DNA is different. I lack human language to explain it, but just take it from me because you've known me a long time and I never lied to you, we look the same but we are different. So I can be fine and robert porter can be sick. So it might not just be knowing I was going to be at sachs-gordon medical center that clarence is right about."

Dr Brewer said, "Prot if any other of my Patients had told me this I'd be pumping them full of heavy medication. But you, are you."

Prot smiled, "Thanks, coach."

"I guess I ought to be communicating to Clarence's Psychiatrist that the Little Guy may not be as delusional as first thought. If prot says he may be a real Angel, we'd better listen. Of course in this stodgy place that could get ME committed. By the way who is Clarence's Psychiatrist?

Prot shrugged, "I don't know. I've never seen the orderlies come for him."

Gene said, "I'll check. So, prot this session is almost over. Pull your pants down and bend over. This is going to sting."

Prot's jaw dropped. "Huh?"

Gene Brewer went over to the medication cabinet and pulled out the key he had been issued. "Let's test Clarence's theory. I'll give you some B vitamins first and you pass it on to Robert. You'll love the hypnotically induced serotonin cascade of course. Then I'll jab you in your other butt with a big dose of cortisol and you pass that on to Robert too. I am glad the Orderlies are just outside because either you are not going to be your usual, calm, happy self in a few seconds. Or Robert Porter will be back, because if it is going to happen, it will happen very quickly.

A few minutes later a smiling Gene Brewer opened the office door and announced, "Isaac and Roman come escort ROBERT PORTER back to his room!"

Roman said, "Well I'll be! Isaac you are about to meet prot's host. Dr. Brewer did it! He got Robert back!"

The orderlies hugged Robert as if they hadn't seen him in a long time, which they hadn't of course. Even if it was the same body that had walked into Dr. Brewer's office it was a different soul who emerged forth from it.

Robert hugged them back. There were tears of joy in his eyes.

Grinning like a cat full of canary and cheerfully rubbing his sore cheeks Robert Porter walked between his orderlies and commented, "I really DO need you to escort me. I have no idea where our room is." He smiled, "Dr Brewer says I owe my sudden recovery to a huge shot of B vitamins in one butt, another huge shot of cortisol in the other butt and an Angelic roommate who figured me out. I bet prot is stewing about that!

Roman shook his head, "No. Actually they have been getting along quite well. It is the god Cupid that they have the most issues with. He needs too much sleep. He's really down about being confined here. That's making him childish and petulant and he also uses up all the towels."

Robert's jaw dropped, "the god, Cupid?"

The two orderlies started howling with laughter, "Oh my Robert you have a lot of catching up to do!"

"I see that!" He gingerly touched his two wounds. "I think I'll sleep on my tummy tonight, if prot LETS me sleep. Apparently that was part of my problem. A paxo style diet and sleep deprivation from prot only needing two hours sleep has worn out my adrenals. I've got B vitamin deficiency, Omega 3 deficiency, protein deficiency and Addison's disease."

"So it was physical all along?"

Robert nodded, "Apparently so."

***

Isaac came to the open door of 318 and knocked,

"Come in if you don't mind being in the presence of a 'horribly incompetent and 'suicidal' crazy person.'" Cupid sounded very down. He made quote marks with his fingers while saying suicidal to indicate he wasn't actually making a suicide threat.

Isaac gave him a sympathetic look.

Cupid was sprawled out on the middle bed. The god had collected a laundry basket sized arsenal of crumpled up pieces of paper and was firing them half-heartedly over his shoulder at the tiny wastebasket. He hadn't missed once.

"Where is Clarence?"

Cupid shrugged, "He and prot went to Mexico."

"Why didn't you go with them?"

"I would rather stay here and wallow in self pity." Cupid started to toss another piece of paper, than realized it looked different than the others. He uncrumpled it and read, 'Long Island Psychiatric hospital.' Hey, I've got some kind of legal document here about Clarence Odbody. He crumpled it up again and tossed it at Isaac who caught it. "Someone ought to see this goes in a file or something and I don't mean my round file."

Ed looked at it. "These are his transfer papers from Long Island Psychiatric Hospital. He sighed, "That might be my fault. I forgot to ask if he'd been properly processed. I asked him what his problem was. He said he was an Angel. I figured correctly that meant he was harmless and asked him if he wanted to room with prot. He said, 'yes." I opened up the door and told him how to get to 318. He most obediently walked in and that was that."

Cupid grinned in spite of himself, "You mean instead of escaping from a mental hospital a Patient has instead managed to sneak into one?"

Ed laughed, "Apparently so. It's not his fault. Not really mine either considering the Morning We Will Always Remember With Infamy."

Suddenly prot and Clarence were back. Both were wearing huge sombreros and prot was, as usual munching on a banana.

Ed said, "prot, I think there are laws about importing fruit without inspecting it.

Prot shrugged, "so at my trial I'll plead insanity. He swallowed the last bite skin and all. "Whoops. There goes the evidence. So it will be kind of hard to convict me. He licked his fingers. "Excuse me while I make sure there is insufficient DNA left for a conviction."

Ed stuck his tongue out and added, "You traveled without a passport too."

Prot grinned, reached in his pocket, pulled one out and waved it in the air. "I admit it does say Robert Porter, not prot but I am just an infection so I don't have to have one anyway."

"Well, do you have a pass port Clarence?"

"I don't need one. I'm dead."

"Oh. Well Mr. Dead Guy, Gene Brewer has figured out no one has been giving you any therapy and Cupid here just figured out why. Clarence your transfer papers should have been turned in not turned into a game piece for waste basket ball!"

Clarence stared at the floor to avoid Isaac's gaze and said, "Oh, sorry. No one asked for them."

Isaac nodded, "I know. My bad. I let you in and it's not your fault you merely did what I asked. Anyway come with me. This, Mr. Clarence Odbody Angel First Class is an official psychiatric orderly escort. What do you think of that?"

Clarence grinned, put his sombrero down on his bed and cheerfully followed the orderly.

"Here he is Doc." Isaac said. "Enjoy!"

Clarence rushed past him and jumped on the couch and lay down. With rapid-fire delivery he said, "_Thanks for paying attention to me. I am here to help_." He said stared at the ceiling as relaxed on the couch as if he had been there a hundred times, a peaceful grin on his face.

Startled at his lack of "new patient jitters" Gene Brewer stared at his new Patient, "Well, thank you. That last part is usually my line but I appreciate a helpful Patient. I am here to help you too, Clarence."

"Ok." Clarence smiled serenely. "Help me."

Dr. Brewer smiled gently at his also gently smiling Patient and templed his fingers, "Alright Mr. Odbody, we can begin."

"You can call me Clarence and I shall call you Gene unless I am feeling mischievous or affectionate in which case I shall call you gino like prot does."

Gene Brewer fought back laughter, "Learning from the best, are we?"

Clarence gave an all too familiar loopy grin, "I don't know about you, but I am!"

Oh why fight it? The Doctor laughed, "Very funny, Clarence. Now down to business.

Gene opened the manila folder on his desk, He continued, "Your file states that you consider yourself to be an Angel and that you have Asperger's syndrome. Is this correct?"

Clarence nodded.

Dr. Brewer sighed, "And I have it on good authority from my Alien Patient that he believes you to be so too. "

Clarence nodded, "We both respect prot's opinion. We have that in common."

Well Mr. Clarence Odbody, Angel first Class, I am going to take a bit of convincing. Prot is clever and intelligent and a good judge of character but he can be wrong. I've known him to make mistakes. So I am going to be completely upfront with you, I don't completely believe you. I need proof."

Clarence stared at him with faked shock, "You really find it hard to believe I have Asperger's syndrome?"

"Ah!" Gene Brewer felt himself getting flustered, and then he glanced at his new Patient and realized he was being teased. Clarence apparently didn't lack at least some insight. He chuckled and then leaned forward in his chair, "I mean about being an Angel and you know it! Well Clarence Odbody, Angel first class, there is a very common therapeutic technique we use on delusional Patients who claim they have special powers. We ask them to demonstrate their powers in the hopes of forcing them to realize they have no such thing. It is usually futile because the Patients come up with excuses, some extremely clever as to why at that particular moment their powers aren't working. My experience with prot has added new insight into this technique. Our expecting them to demonstrate their powers is often based on a false premise; that the Patient WANTS to prove he really is not delusional. They might not due to enjoying being in the hospital, enjoying the personal attention a Therapist provides or thinking correctly or incorrectly they have a mission there, or as in prot's case have the insight to know, powers or no powers he really does have a problem and really needs to be confined for treatment but lacks the trust to be up front about it with the Therapist at that point in their relationship. Prot pulled a quickest gun in the West routine with me even though he was perfectly capable of demonstrating real mirror beaming. He wanted me to think he was crazy and not kick him out before I discovered Robert Porter! I doubt I would have thrown a real Alien out anyway. It seems to me being an Alien Intelligence who refuses to use money counts as a form of incompetence so I don't think prot should be running around loose on EARTH anyway and I am glad most of the time he has Robert Porter to be his Keeper.

"So, Clarence I want to reassure you if fear that I may no longer consider you worthy of my attention and care in this facility might be a factor in your reluctance to demonstrate your abilities, please be relieved of that fear. Anyone who thinks he should live in a mental hospital probably should whether they are an Alien, or an Angel or a god or just think they are."

Clarence shook his head, "Cupid doesn't want to be here. Prot and I do. We must do something about Cupid. It is my mission to help prot, Robert and Cupid. I helped prot and Robert but I haven't a clue about what to do to help Cupid."

Gene Brewer winced, "I know. I do agree we have to put our heads together and figure out what to do about Cupid. Prot and Robert are refusing to go back to K-PAX even though they have a window coming up because they are really worried about Trevor Pierce! But right now I want to concentrate on finding out more about you."

Clarence gave his psychiatrist a solemn look, "Ok Dr. Gene Brewer. There is another reason why a truly powerful Patient might be reluctant to demonstrate his powers that you failed to mention. "

"What is that?"

Clarence gave Doctor Brewer a wide-eyed frown. "Fear of scaring the golly g willickers out of the Doctor!"

Gene Brewer nodded, "Now that is a valid and rational concern. But please be assured after having prot for a Patient I have just about seen it all. If you have the ability to mirror beam me somewhere for instance."

"I don't. I don't mirror beam. I would be using quantum entanglement to teleport you. I could say, 'transport you' but you'll get images of pointy-eared first officers and hard drinking Scottish engineers!" Clarence giggled.

The Little Angel's bubbly personality was infectious. The Doctor laughed too. "Oh my! All right, Clarence, please be reassured my Wife and I have been to Hawaii and Zaire courtesy of prot. I don't think your 'teleporting me" would scare me much unless you took me somewhere I could not escape from. I suppose I really can't say I've seen it all but I've seen lots. Let's put our heads together. Where could you take me that wouldn't 'scare the 'golly g willickers ' out of me?"

Clarence cocked his head quizzically, "The roof? We have a couple of chairs and a table set up, up there. Cassie and prot have to get some relief from this overcrowding and lack of outdoor recreation."

He put his hands to his lips, "Oops did my Aspergers syndrome just cause me to let a Cat out of the bag?"

Dr. Brewer shook his head, "No Clarence. I already knew about their little retreat from this mad house. Hector told me. The roof would be fine, Clarence."

Suddenly they were there.

Gene Brewer yelped and painfully picked himself up. "Clarence next time it would be a good idea to wait until your Passenger stands up if he is sitting down at the time your teleport them, or take his chair too."

"Oh. Sorry." The little Angel looked contrite. Suddenly the chairs from the office were there.

Gene Brewer sat down in a chair already at the site and said, "Alright you are normal, or at least not delusional. It is quite obvious to me you DO have Aspergers' syndrome because Man! A Neurotypical Angel would have waited until I stood up! But we have no cure for that and I guess after a few hundred years you've managed to learn how to cope. Like most Adult Aspergians I am sure you could teach your Therapists things we don't know. We don't have a clue!'

Clarence nodded, "NO! You DON'T! Even the Therapist Joseph provided for me when he realized what my problem was, wasn't worth a dam!"

I sense there is some trauma there connected to past mistreatment by clueless Therapists?"

"Yes." Clarence frowned and stared at the shingles.

"Also, I didn't know Angels swore."

We don't. The proper spelling is dam, not damn. The phrase is short for 'Tinker's dam.' A Tinkers dam is a little wad of unfired clay pot makers used to plug up the hole in their pot-making mold. Obviously they don't cost much; hence 'not worth a Tinkers dam' or 'I don't give a Tinker's dam' means one doesn't think much of something. It is no more swearing than saying, 'it ain't worth a plugged nickel."

"So Gone with the Wind was…"

"…..not the first picture with a swear word in it. There was no real swearing in Gone With the Wind."

Gene smiled, "The things I learn from my Patients! All right. Let's get back to business because" (checking his watch) "our session is almost half over already. You are right. You don't need therapy. Instead your mission here was to help Robert and prot, which you've succeeded in doing and to help Cupid, which you haven't yet succeeded in doing. Have you any ideas on just how to do it? Because the man, god, whatever is in agony! He doesn't need to be here. He doesn't want to be here. He was holding down a good job and was loved and respected by his boss and the bar patrons alike. Last year he filled out his income tax neatly, on time and with no problems other than they contested his claim that his birth date was February 14, 3067 BC. The auditor was impressed with the careful records he had kept except he kept them in Roman Numerals but there is no law or IRS rule that says you can't do that! That auditor became one of the few modern Humans who how knows how to add, subtract, multiply and divide in Roman numerals. Our fallen god had to teach him so he could do his auditing. That's supposed to be a lost art by the way, but Trevor Cupid Pierce knows how! He was also completely honest in reporting tips down to the penny so the bemused Auditor decided to let the birth date slide. "

Clarence smiled, "We watched that little scenario closely out of pure amusement. The Auditor wanted out of there as quickly as possible! Trevor went into his mischievous 'lets freak out the Normals mode," and wouldn't let the poor accountant forget where it was he thought he came from! He calmly and matter-of-factly gave the poor fellow more information about the inside story on life on Mount Olympus than he ever cared to know. Of course his otherwise normal behavior is his most disconcerting feature! If he would just act crazy while he states these impossible things it wouldn't be so scary, but he acts completely normal! So that and having to learn to use Roman Numerals had the poor guy of course starting to fear the wraith of Cupid's mommy and daddy a little bit too! He was going, 'oh wee oh!' and 'what if?' a lot! It was a little bit like having to audit Grandpa Munster while the lovable Vampire was sitting there calmly making reference to his 'high protein liquid diet!' By the way I forgot. What did they do about his lack social security number?"

Gene explained, "It is routine in cases of officially diagnosed hysterical amnesia to issue another. Trevor Pierce truly can't remember his real past and even the IRS can't expect the impossible as long as the individual is trying to pay his taxes.

"Oh. But you really think Cupid isn't remembering his real past?"

Do you think he is a god, Clarence Odbody ANGEL, first class? Isn't that conflicting theology big time?"

Cupid smiled, "Define god. He is an idol like those golden logs your ancestors used to bow down to, except he has been brought to real self-awareness. The truth is Cupid and his pitiful, extended, dysfunctional family and all of Olympus except for the real mountain of course, are a video game that probably should not have been done.

Gene Brewer laughed in spite of himself. "A VIDEO GAME?"

Yes, Dr. Brewer a Video game. And Cupid is the Patient, not the Host. By the time Cupid gets his one-hundredth couple united and goes back to Olympus the original Host will have had a nice long rest and will be just fine. Also allowing Cupid to do what he's doing is curing the poor fellow's horrible guilt. Plus Cupid is paying rent. His Host's brain is being bathed in endorphins and oxytocin as prot does with Robert Porter. That's healing too. But Cupid is VERY homesick. He really needs Claire's professional services for that and this hospital needs to let him go back to her!"

"But what do you mean Olympus is a video game?'

Cupid said, "Not long from now, not even as ordinary Mortals measure time you will have reached The Singularity. Computer programs will be as smart and as self aware as we are. Then they will go beyond Human intelligence. The Disney Company is going to come up with a Multitasking Mickey Mouse program and sell people subscriptions for Mickey Mouse to come and teach Folk's things, and not just Kids either. The program will get dissatisfied with being stuck inside a computer all the time and will insist that robot avatars be made for it. Eventually as other entertainers did in the past, (Ronald Reagan and the Govinator for instance) he will have successful political ambitions. That gives you some idea of just how crazy the future is going to be, Dr. Gene Brewer. But Mickey Mouse is harmless, even beneficial. And you can hardly call Mickey Mouse crazy if he keeps insisting he is Mickey Mouse.

"Well a whole lot further in the future, some Person who probably should be involuntarily committed here is going to think, "Wow! Wouldn't it be cool if we brought all the ancient Greek Gods to life and created an Olympus?" Clarence got a pained expression on his face. "They shouldn't. They really shouldn't. But, (sigh), they did!"

"But he's inhabiting a Human Host."

Clarence shrugged, "Oh, over the next fifteen billion years computer programs will learn to do that, and to time travel anywhen and to use quantum entanglement to travel anywhere and a whole bunch of other things just as Humans do. I can't say Humanity created a Monster but you certainly created Munsters. He sort of half knows his origins. I doubt any of you folks in the mental health field thought to ask him where the gods actually come from or he would have told you. That might have made him look a bit saner. So Cupid is the Greek god of love and like all gods you Humans created him. It is just you really DID create him. Heaven too. Olympus really is on top of Mount Olympus. It is a pyramid shaped for no other reason than pyramids are cool. It is the size of a soft ball and buried deep inside the mountain. It is covered in material that can survive the big crunch and the big bang so it's been around the time space curve a couple of times. It is anchored to the proper points in space so it always finds the mountain again during all those points in time when the mountain does exist. The material it's made from reflects all sensors so it won't be found until it's invented, which is ironic. Because of curved space-time, the crazy, geeky Greek who invented it found it was already there when he tried to bury it."

"Cupid's father really didn't' have anything to do with the World Trade Center coming down? But he did know it was coming down ahead of time and warned his son!"

Clarence shook his head.

Then how did he know and why does he think he did it?"

"As best I can explain in terms you understand, 'wireless networking' which isn't really true omnipotence but they think they have it. They don't know the difference. And the 'gods' are hard wired to think they are responsible for everything. But Cupid's Father is really innocent. It was really the devil."

"There is a devil? Why allow him to exist?"

What do Caribou think about Wolves, Doctor? They don't like them, do they? But Wolves keep the Caribou strong by picking off the weak and the sick and by so doing, cause the Caribou to evolve even faster and stronger. The devil destroys those too lacking in foresight to avoid his traps. By so doing the Human forebrain is evolving rapidly. He serves his place in the ecological system."

"He tricked us into to gaining knowledge of good and evil?"

"Yes, and he's still very much doing so. Every generation takes a little bigger bite of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil."

"What about Jesus?"

Clarence smiled, "Jesus is a Little Jewish Boy Who Made Good. He was a Carpenter with a Grand Dream and just as we truly built the Nautilus and the Moon ship Columbia and the International Space Station we gave His dream to Him. Jesus is Lord of the Universe because Life couldn't think of anyone better to take that position and evolution does what it does. After a sufficient number of trips around the time/space curve He's reached true omnipresence through hard work, sweat, blood and tears. That's no fun knowing and sensing everything but for survivals sake somebody has to do it. The Universe is safer with a Monitor. So the entire Universe so to speak keeps pounding nails into Him. So be nice to Him. Like Cupid would say He needs love! He's not magic. He's what happens when Science is allowed to reach its full flowering."

Why is the Universe such a mess? Why doesn't He do something about it?

Do YOU volunteer to be wiped from the time line so He can risk trying a different scenario?"

"Oh." After several seconds he asked, "Also, why does your "Outfit" even care about Cupid if all he is, is an artificial intelligence program invented by a future Geeky Greek with way too much time on his hands?"

Doctor Gene Brewer why do you even have to ask that? Jesus cares about EVERYBODY, every living thing. He'd do more for the gods and this planet too, if Folks would invite Him to and make Him welcome to so do. Cupid actually prayed to Him while he was in the disturbed ward for help. My coming here is a retroactive answer to that. Well it was more of a, "to whom it may concern" prayer, but that was all the permission Christ needed. Cupid's believing he and his family are gods makes it easy for him to have faith that there are others beyond even them. So we decided that was close enough and hope our reaching out to him will encourage the rest of his extremely dysfunctional Family to seek help. Because do they ever NEED it! Gino they are one messed up bunch of Intelligences and we ache for them! But as your Shrinks would say, "no one can be helped until they want help and ask for it. Cupid at least has the courage and the wisdom to ask for help. Claire taught him that. We hope that will lead to more of his kind having the courage to seek help."

"Oh. Well, Clarence this most unusual but insightful session is almost over. So what do you plan to do about Cupid?"

Clarence stared at the roof shingles avoiding Gene Brewer's all too penetrating Neurotypical gaze, "I don't know. I'm failing here. I helped prot and Robert but I haven't a clue what to do. I need you to figure it out. You're my Shrink. Give me some insight!"

Then Clarence gave Dr. Brewer a wry grin, "You see, you were wrong. I CAN use some therapy.

Gene Brewer smiled, "Well I will certainly try to provide it. Idea. Why not just take Cupid somewhere else just as you did me?'

Clarence said, "Because he wants to face his problems and because he loves being Claire's Patient. She really is helping him. Most of the Olympians are emotionally dysfunctional but Cupid takes that to new heights. Plus Cupid loves working at Tres Equis and he wants to continue."

Dr. Brewer nodded, "I admire the fellow. Not many People would stay in a mental hospital under the circumstances he is being treated if they had a way to get out. Prot could help him escape but then he would have to leave New York and obviously he loves his friends and therapist too much to leave. Sadly our session is over for the day. Please take me back to my office.

Clarence did so.

Gene Brewer opened the door, "Ok, Isaac he's all yours.

Isaac started to walk off with Clarence following like a happy puppy.

Gene Brewer ran after them, "Hey wait! Bring the chairs back!"

***

Cupid stared at Dr. Greely like he was a basket of poisonous snakes.

The Psychiatrist glared back, "Trevor Pierce you fooled me once and I shall not let it happen again. You never for one second gave up your delusions of godhood and I am very aware they are so entrenched in you, you never will. Your only hope is huge doses of medication, which I will now prescribe for you. Last time you were in here nothing we gave you worked. But we were assuming you had a normal metabolism. Not everybody does and it isn't because they are divine. I've heard you can drink People two times your size under the table. Your body does the same thing with psyche meds. If we give you a high enough dose they will work. So this time the dose we give you will be much higher than the normal amounts we injected into you last time."

Cupid frowned at him. "Please don't do that to me! I wouldn't mind a reasonable dose. I know I could use the calming down. Because being trapped in this mad house really is driving me nuts. I need freedom! I am a free spirit, a party animal. I need to sing and dance and I need to be surrounded by happy People. I grew up in an environment where we celebrated life to its fullest. The whole Greek culture is like that, not just us gods. But here Folks are scared to act the least bit silly because they know such behavior will get recorded in their files and lead to their not being released. That isn't mentally healthy. People need to celebrate life! People need to hug and dance and sing and laugh! I am doing what I can to loosen this place up, but it is very hard with you being against me!"

"Thinking your Doctor is against you is a common paranoid delusion Mr. Pierce. On a proper dose of medication that delusion will fade as will the rest of your sick confabulations. I am putting you on 800 mgs of Thorazine to start with. I say 'start with the basics first.'"

Cupid stared at him shocked, "I can't believe even you would do that to me! I know you are just bitter towards me because I fooled you, not because you really think I am any kind of a danger. You are going to put me on that high a dose? I really will be a zombie sitting in my own drool! A lesser dose can help, maybe, but that much? How about 50 mgs or even one hundred?"

"Oh I am prepared to raise it even higher than that if you don't respond Mr. Pierce! But I will give you a choice. Do you want it as pills, liquid or as an injection?

"That's not much of a choice!"

Soothingly Dr Greely said, "I suggest the liquid. We have a very nice tasting custard flavored version that many of our most disturbed Patients actually look forward to. It is the highlight of their day when their ward Nurse brings it around. I mean it. It is really tasty!"

Cupid glared at him, "I'll take the injections!"

The Doctor glared at him, "So you plan to fight us?"

Cupid shook his head, "Oh no. I don't fight. I'll stand perfectly still for who ever is piercing Trevor Pierce. I'll be as good as gold to them. But syringes cost more money than pills. It is my version of civil disobedience, and it will let me moon the ones jabbing me every single time they chemically straitjacket me. I think I'll moon you right now!' Cupid stood up and did so."

Mr. Pierce that kind of behavior will not be tolerated! Sit down, shut up and behave yourself or I will confine you to the disturbed ward. Be thankful I am at least leaving you in the harmless ward. Your singing and dancing is something of a disruption but the Nurses and Orderlies and the other Doctors have reported to me it is having a positive effect on the mood of many of the Patients. I suppose for that I should be grateful."

Cupid sat down quickly and made a zipping motion to his mouth.

"Now as far as I am concerned this session is over. I have nothing more to say to an obvious Madman who is out of his head and completely out of touch with reality and also very deliberately defiant." Dr. Greely called, "Roman come get the Patient and take him back to the harmless ward. We are letting him stay there for now, and administer one hundred mgs of Thorazine to be injected every hour for eight hours a day because this Man is very disturbed and uncooperative."

Sighing and raising his hands to the Heaven to implore his family for help, Cupid got up and walked out the door. Then he stared at the floor and frowned but followed Roman obediently.

As soon as they were far enough away to make sure Dr. Greely could not hear, Roman said, "be glad he is choosing to inject you.

Cupid shook his head and frowned, "He didn't' He gave me the choice and I made it. I want to cost the hospital the few extra cents the syringes cost even though I know the ones jabbing me are going to do their darnest to make sure it hurts as much as possible!'

Roman shook his head. "No we won't and you made a wise choice because, do you know how easy it is to dump stuff out of a syringe?"

Cupid gazed at him and smiled in delighted shock, "You would do that for me?"

Roman nodded, "I will have to give you some of it because there will be blood tests but I'll risk giving you a much lighter dose. It won't hurt you really, Cupid, except for the needle pain." Cross my heart and hope to die." Roman made the proper gesture,"

Cupid nodded, "I know that. Antipsychotic medication really helps some individuals with physical dopamine problems. I've seen some miracles. It is just even Dr. Claire McCrae says I am not truly psychotic, just as she puts it "hysterically delusional." I really don't think I would benefit other than from a small dose to help calm me down a bit. I wouldn't even mind that."

Roman nodded, "I am sure Isaac, Navarro, Hector and at least a couple others will be willing to do the same thing. I'll have to be very careful who I ask to help though."

Cupid nodded, "So at least a few days a week I am going to be "all here, just a little calmer." But on some days all I will be interested in is the cotton in my head."

Roman nodded sadly, "That's about it. Try to act difficult with the ones who aren't in on this. It isn't even unusual for some of our Patients to have favorite Orderlies and Nurses they will behave for and others who they are defiant with. Why should you be any different? The Staff doesn't like extra work. Once they figure out who you will hold still for and who has to struggle to get the needle into you they'll send us Good Guys to inject you every time they can."

Cupid nodded, "I am not going to fight but I guess I could back my butt up in the corner or crawl under my bed."

Roman nodded, "That's the idea." "

Cupid turned and faced Roman and smiled at him warmly. He put his hands on his shoulder and lovingly gazed into his eyes. "I thank you ever so much for helping me in this insane situation. You are risking your job and a fellow worker I know how much your livelihood means to you! I really, really, REALLY appreciate it! I want to LIVE, Roman! It doesn't matter if I'm a god, or if I really am just a delusional, secondary persona who took dominant position because of his Host's intolerable trauma like Claire keeps saying. I want to LIVE."

***

Robert relaxed in the chair sitting in front of Dr. Brewer. He was grinning from ear to ear just to be experiencing the rare feeling of being actually ALIVE!

So was Dr. Brewer because his Patient's mood was contagious. "Robert I need to go over the instructions for the safe use of cortisol very carefully. Too little and you just won't feel good. Too much and it can cause psychosis itself. Is prot listening? This is definitely a case where two minds are better than one. He can help you keep the instructions straight. I am going to write them down for you too and make sure that piece of paper is in your possession when you go back to K-PAX."

Robert grinned, "I won't leave EARTH without it.

"Is prot listening?"

"Oh, sort of. He just told me to tell you, you are to think of me as his big old feather bed with his favorite meal on the nightstand beside it. He is going to laze inside of me for a week and wake up only to suckle and then go right back to sleep again. He is however listening now, sort of. Internally speaking, he's sprawled out on his tummy because our butt still hurts, but his head is looking up and one eye is open."

"Good. First off. Dosage."

Suddenly Robert got a pained expression on his face."

"Robert what is wrong!"

"He's started singing, Grandmother's Feather bed. Oh how I wish he could at least stay on tune internally!"

Oh, well, Dr. Brewer tried not to laugh but failed. Robert you do have a REAL problem but I think it's treatment resistant. I'd offer you some Thorazine but I don't think it would help unless I gave you enough to knock both of you out.!"

Robert shrugged, "He's not heavy. He's just my Alien."

***

In the dew wet early morning amongst the streets of a sleeping New York an Alien walked, searching, hunting occasionally methodically and occasionally whimsically as the mood struck him. Walking up and down one street, mirror beaming in and out of others, again as the mood struck him. He had been homeless for over 5 years. He knew how to dumpster dive. But this time he wasn't looking for clothes or food or flashlight batteries. He was looking for cement blocks. They had to be exactly the right kind. They were a very old kind of block. Darn it that humans wouldn't stick to one design for more than a few years! On K-PAX a block was a block and they had been made exactly the same way for over five million years. Why change what was perfection itself? Why make it hard to find replacements when a quake or the rare tornado damaged a building? Only Humans could make the simple act of finding a replacement block a difficult thing. Brand names! Changing times. Architectural fads and fashion! Mot shit! The sane Alien was living in an insane WORLD, and he did not like it! Only love kept him here. But he had a mission. So he searched.

And he searched.

And he searched.

And then one day he found a fallen pile of just exactly the kind of blocks he needed. It was an old beer brewery fallen on hard times. T_he wrecking balls were swinging. If he hurried he could have all the blocks they needed. How ironic that it was a brewery and his beloved shrink and friend's name was brewer. Somewhere in the past his friend's ancestors and this early psyche medication production place had a common past. "I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy.' There had been a time before thorazine when doctors cut up the brains of disturbed patients to control them, so that had been more than just a cute saying. Alcohol charged a high cost but it could stop hallucinations, and many a homeless schizophrenic had known it, still did. Even now that lobotomies were a thing of the past it took courage to trust a shrink, money to afford one. The streets were crueler but they were the known devil not an unknown one._

_As best they could, dr. brewer's ancestors had medicated the mentally ill too._

One mental Patient at a time, one block apiece. Beam him or her to the pile of discarded blocks to pick the block of his or her choice out of the pile. Then beam him or her to the fallen wall of MPI. As the normal People across the street labored to tear down what remained of two magnificent buildings like a hoard of Human Ants, on MPI's side of the street the happily crazy and the painfully disturbed labored one Patient at a time as very different individuals to build a wall to keep the violent, cruel, "Normal" People out. One by one each Patient of MPI rebuilt the wall that protected them from the insanity of the sane. It had been prot's idea that all the inmates of MPI capable of doing so would each do their one block. In that way when they looked at the wall they could say, "I did that. This wall is not here to lock me away because the world does not want me. This is a wall I helped build myself to protect us from the meanness of the world."

With the gentle sense of humor of God there were exactly enough Mental patients and exactly enough needed blocks.

Dr. Brewer surveyed the project. "What about building codes and inspections, prot?"

"Prot shrugged, "We'll plead insanity. If that doesn't work I'll give the code inspector a nice, sudden trip to the vacation spot of his or her choice. "

That would be kidnapping, prot.

Prot shook his head, "Not if I ask them where they want to go first."

But they won't believe you. They will tell you "Hawaii" or "Saint Kitts or Florida just to humor you."

Prot shrugged, "It won't be MY fault they don't believe me. Because I _did ask_ first."

Dr. Brewer nodded. Then a bigger light dawned. He scratched his chin thoughtfully.

***

Dr. Brewer smiled, "Ok Clarence here's the interpersonal therapy you wanted. I know just exactly how you can help Cupid!"

Clarence looked at his Psychiatrist, "Do tell. I am all ears! Well, not really but oh you know what I mean!"

I do. What did you do for George Bailey?"

"That wasn't really his real name but I showed him what the world would be like if he had not ever been born."

Dr. Brewer nodded, "and it changed his attitude big time, didn't it?"

Clarence nodded, "But that won't help Cupid. He isn't lacking any sense of his own importance. He thinks he's a god remember? Plus it is obviously even to his Psychiatrist that uniting one hundred couples is a VERY important thing to be doing, whatever his reasons for doing them, delusional or true. Cupid doesn't need a life review."

But Dr. Greely does, not his own, but Cupid's.

But I can't just do that to him. He would never give me permission.

Dr. Brewer said, "I am going to have a discussion with Dr. Greely You see I have this Patient. He thinks he's an Angel. I haven't been able to get anywhere with him so I want Dr. Greely to take over his treatment."

Clarence's face showed his hurt, "But I've been a good Patient! I have. I…."

"Have Asperger's syndrome and are not following this. Clarence you have been a GREAT Patient, but we don't want Dr. Greely to know that. We want him to be so full of his faith he is a superior Psychiatrist to me he gets a big shock when you show him an alternate time line.

But what if he refuses to let me show him?

"Oh he will ask you too."

He won't believe that I can really do it."

That is the beauty of the kind of relationship you will have with him. Remember what I said earlier about the therapeutic delusion confrontation technique? He thinks you are delusional. He will do just what I did, ask you to prove your powers to prove to you, you don't' really have them. He will be expecting the usual clever excuse, or for you to fail which would force you to confront reality. But he will get a BIG SURRPISE, and it won't be your fault in any way whatsoever he wasn't really expecting it! He will be the one forced to confront reality and man Clarence does he ever need to! You show him what would have happened if Cupid had not been released from the hospital the first time or is not allowed to leave now."

"But that will scare the golly g willickers out of Dr Greely!"

Clarence take this from me as a Psychiatrist. Dr. Greely's mental health would take a BIG upturn if someone would indeed scare the golly g willickers out of him. He needs a good scare just as much as many a depressive needs a good electric convulsive shock jumpstart to their nervous system. I can't think of anything that would do that rear end of a male donkey as much good as suddenly realizing that there is more than as dreamt of than is in his philosophy."

Clarence giggled, "Oh it is PERFECT!"

***

At the staff meeting Claire still was giving Dr. Greely looks that could kill, "How is he?" She asked.

He frowned, "He seems to have a remarkable ability to shake off the medication, at least some of the time. But we had been going the therapy route alone long enough. It hasn't worked either. But I have about a dozen other medications to try if Thorazine doesn't work. Never give up on a Patient but if after years of no success, try a different approach."

"Can I at least see him?"

Now Claire we've been over this. It wouldn't be good for him. He needs to have his connection to you cut so he can start forming a relationship with a different Therapist, one that won't pander to his delusions as you have been doing.

Suddenly Dr Brewer said, "May I make a suggestion?"

Go ahead Dr. Brewer.

As you know I have an extensive background in treating Dissassocitive Identity disorder with considerable success.

You mean prot/Robert? But didn't' that turn out to be a real case of alien possession?'

Prot is a real alien yes, but don't forget about Harry and Paul. Robert Porter really did have other personas in him and I managed to cure him of those and both he and his Alien trusted me enough to come back when he continued having further difficulties. His catatonia turned out to be Addison's disease though. I'm embarrassed. We all missed that.

"But the thing is I have the experience and background to help RT Pierce a whole lot more than Claire does. Sorry Claire. I won't be mean to him I promise, but I won't let him keep insisting RT Pierce doesn't exist and he isn't living in that body. So could I take a crack at him?'

Dr. Gridley considered this. "It's an idea. When would you find the time? Your schedule is pretty full."

Dr. Brewer thought, 'ah the bear loaded his own trap.' "I would like to switch Patients with you. I have the Patient who calls himself. 'Clarence Odbody' after that fictional Angel in It's A Wonderful life. He claims he has Asperger's syndrome too and he may be right about that. I do see signs of that in him. But he won't let me try to pop his delusions that he has powers because he says he likes me too much and doesn't want to scare me. I suspect you could come across as a whole lot meaner than I and force the issue."

Dr. Gridley nodded, "Ok it is done. I'll let you take my fallen god at the same time you were seeing your Angel with Asperger's syndrome. I suspect both of us are going to have several interesting sessions.

Dr. Brewer thought to himself. You just said an understatement!"

***

The Patient, who sat before him, had the look in his eyes that Dr. Brewer had seen all too often. It was a look of exogenous paranoia (reality oriented paranoia) and it was the most difficult kind of paranoia to treat. Nothing is harder to for a Doctor to help a Patient overcome than trauma caused by past psychiatric blundering.

Sometimes profession effacing humor would work. Dr. brewer smiled, "Cupid you have the look of a Man who has had it up to Olympus and back with silly, stupid, simplistic psychobabble and psychiatric shenanigans.

The Patient repeated thoughtfully with a twitch of a grin, 'silly, stupid, simplistic psychobabble and psychiatric shenanigans.' Could I hear you say that ten times fast?'

Ah! Just the response he was hoping for. There was still hope for a therapeutic relationship. "No, Cupid because I don't think I could not even with help from the gods.'

Cupid's face lit up, "You called me Cupid and I didn't hear the Santa Claus tone in it.

Dr. Brewer nodded, "That's right, Cupid. Clarence told me all about you. Olympus is real though it's not what we thought. You really ARE Cupid, god of love. Your memories of your wonderful home and loving but dysfunctional family and the crazy stunts you pulled with stealing Unicorns and Huck Finn like sailing of homemade rafts in the river Styx are as real as my memories of my Eagle scout days and my life with Karen. You were a scamp! From what I've been observing, you still are." He laughed, "I only have you on loan from Dr. Greely. Clarence traded places with you. I used the ruse I wasn't getting any where with Clarence and I needed him to take a crack at him. I just couldn't pop Clarence's delusion that he is an Angel with powers. Of course it is Doctor Greeley who is in for the real surprise.

Cupid gave a mischievous grin, "I wonder where he is right now?"

I think Clarence said he was going to take him to the Red Sea crossing which actually happened. I saw it on Discovery channel. They actually found the spot, and if there is time and Dr. Greely isn't in hysterics by then, to Seneca Falls where It's a Wonderful Life was actually filmed. Then he is going to show you the difference between New York with a free Trevor Cupid Pierce and a New York with a locked up and overmedicated Trevor Cupid Pierce."

"Sort of confirming his faith and popping his hidden delusions that it was a false faith all at once?"

"You got it. Besides the fact you are misfiled across the street instead of the hospital which offends his OCDish sense of order, no end, some of his assholism towards you comes from wanting to believe in God and not being able to. Having an Olympian god in front of him makes Christianity a tad hard to fit in there. He didn't realize just how big the Multiverse is.'

"Now Cupid down to business. I KNOW someone else is listening in on this session."

Cupid shrugged, "Well of course. Probably an infinite number of omnipresents though I would think they would have better things to do. But unfortunately psychiatric sessions are entertaining and intriguing. This one especially: Its one of their own in the hot seat."

Dr. Brewer smiled, "Claire left a note here in your files to please keep in mind that your talk of the gods and your frequent ranting and raving at them are your secondary persona's confabulated family memories and religious belief structure, not signs of a hallucinatory psychosis. But of course, it turns out you aren't even confabulating anything. I think right now you would be pretty mad at your Dad."

Cupid nodded, "That's would have been an understatement, at one time but we've reached a separate peace.."

Dr. Brewer said, "Must be a bummer being the god of love and having your Dad be the God of war. Did you get along?'

Cupid shrugged, "About most things but not about war."

"So they listen to you all the time?"

Cupid shrugged. "We have selective omnipresence not total omnipresence. It as if we have a TV set with an infinite number of channels. We can chose to watch any channel we want but not all of them at once. My folks may be listening, or they may not be. But if you could watch your son or relative being given psychotherapy, would YOU watch?

Dr. Brewer nodded, "That is actually a quite logical theory. Considering your belief structure it is not signs of psychotic paranoia at all even if Clarence hadn't talked to me about you. But "the gods" were not the intelligences I am talking about. Dr. Brewer leaned forward and gently he said, "Clarence told me other things too, plus we've pretty much figured out something on our own. Cupid. I want to reassure you that your secret is safe with me. Unless I can get the two of you transpired to MPI I won't be able to do much more for RT Pierce other than say, "Hi there. I know you are there. Relax. I won't break the stained glass window work of art that has been faithfully hiding and taking care of you."

Cupid/RT Pierce stared at Dr. Brewer shocked.

Yes, Cupid. I know RT Pierce is conscious just as Robert Porter is most of the time when prot is in up position. He's heard every thing, seen every thing, even felt everything that's happened since the gods inserted you into him. He doesn't want to deal with life at least not until you finish your mission. I won't stop you from completing it either. It's a wonderful thing you are doing and apparently Cupid your family is right. You do need the retraining. But RT Pierce it's OK for you to come out here and talk about how bad you've been feeling. I won't make you come out anywhere but in this safe sanctuary. When you leave this room Cupid can go back to being in control."

Cupid looked tenser than many a paranoid psychotic who was sure the Doctor was gong to poison him or shoot mind-destroying rays into his brain. He started shaking his head back and forth almost violently." No!"

Dr. Brewer sighed, "There was a chance. I had to take it.'

Cupid stared at him like he was a poisonous snake.

"Relax. I give up on that idea for now. I won't bring it up the rest of the session. I'm changing the subject. Lets have some fun. I have your psychaitric files in front of me. Lets pretend for the amusement of it that I had never talked to Clarence. All I know is a Man is sitting before me has some kind of problem. I have his chart. I open it up. What do I see?"

Out of the corner of his eye Dr. Brewer observed Cupid who was starting to smile again in spite of himself.

My word! The Patient claims he's Cupid! That makes for a mixed prognosis. He probably can be kept in the harmless ward but the chances of his recovery are small. It is just too delicious a delusion and Folks are going to help reinforce it. Oh but look at this note. Patient says he has to unite a hundred couples in love but once he does he can go back to Olympus. Well! That's unusual. The delusion is definitely self-limiting. My old Professor used to say 'the Teleology of the healing is encased in the psychosis.' I have never in my entire career seen such a perfect example of this, and yet, every single Therapist you've been afflicted with completely missed it. What? Did they have blinders on? How could all these supposedly trained mental health Therapists not realize they need to help you complete your mission instead of discouraging you? Then both the secondary persona known as Cupid and the original persona professor RT Pierce will be redeemed. Cupid can go Olympus, wherever Olympus is even if it's a collection of neural pathways inside of Professor Pierce's brain and we Therapists can then deal with helping RT Pierce learn to cope with life again."

Dr. Brewer continued, "But did that fact that was staring them right in the face, big as a barn, get realized? No. Instead your horrendous Head Shrinkers have been wasting valuable professional hours trying to "cure you of your delusions." They should have worked with your so called delusions."

Cupid nodded appreciatively. "You're good. I admit it. You are damn good."

Dr. Brewer continued, "Reading the rest of your history. You faked sanity long enough to get out of the hospital and then set about completing your mission, determined to heal yourself DESPITE the psychaitric care you had been receiving instead of because of it. Despite thinking you are a god defrocked of powers in one day you obtain a job and a place to stay without backing down on your delusions one bit. In fact you are so open about being the god of love half the town of New York knows you by sight and calls you Cupid. And you keep both your job, your apartment, and even more amazing your same roommate for years until this damn 9/11 tragedy. Then somehow a few minutes before the planes hit the first tower, the Patient who was up until then completely emotionally stable except for a little homesickness threatens to commit suicide on a building just far enough away from the World Trade Center to be safe but close enough to provide an excellent view. He calls his Therapist to come and bring as many People as possible to talk him off the ledge and because of that over five hundred people live who otherwise wouldn't! Sounds like an episode of Quantum Leap. Cupid tell me, did you ever have a fugue period in which you woke up in a white room with a really strangely dressed Human named Al in front of you asking you questions?"

Cupid started laughing, "Aren't you supposed to be curing me of these kind of wild fantasies instead of trying to implant new ones?"

Dr. Brewer gave Trevor Pierce a very prot-like grin, "Gee Cupid! What wild fantasies? You are a god. You live in a mental hospital. Your roommates are an Angel with mild autism named Clarence Odbody and an Alien from a peaceful PLANET of loving, Worm like Body Snatchers who was having problems with his beloved Host. His Host was catatonic. So he travels 7000 light years to get him psychaitric care."

Cupid nodded. "You're right. All that can't be true. I'm just crazy. I've been madder than a hatter all along. You've cured me. Can I go back to Tres Equis now?"

Dr. Brewer smiled, "Oh yes. That's in your file too. Patrons at the bar where this delusional Patient works keep sending letters begging for your release. Your Boss also says, please get my biggest business draw back here plus we miss him! Clientele is down 70 percent. They need their advertising icon back."

Cupid stared at his new psychiatrist surprised. "They've been sending letters? Tears starting going down his face.

Dr. Brewer reached under his desk and pulled out a mail sack. He handed it to His Patient.

Cupid sobbed, "Dr. Greely never let me see!"

Dr. Brewer frowned, "Cupid I do so apologize! What was done to such a harmless Patient should not have been done to anyone. If I had legal custody of you I'd sign your release forms right now and give you a lift back to Tres Equis myself, or have prot beam you there, or Clarence teleport you there. Unfortunately Dr. Greely still has that custody. I think after his little session with Clarence, things are going to be different."

Cupid continued to cry, "As Claire would say it, 'Doctor! Patient!' That meant I was supposed to quit thinking of myself as a god for a few moments and sit down and be a psychaitric Patient. It was a wonderful briar patch to be in and I would sit there like a little lamb while she lectured me about the importance of facing reality. Now I am myself saying, 'Doctor! Patient!' I want to face reality and want you professional services now. I need your advice. Dr Brewer before I came to Tres Equis it doesn't 'matter that I really am a god. I was a pompous, self centered, irresponsible asshole who shot people with my bow wily nilly to make them fall in love just because I could. It was a game to me and no one respected me because I didn't deserve any respect. Now I have a job. I've been promoted. People love me and the matches I make are turning out to be good ones. Several children have been born to my matches. I don't know if I want to go home, other than to Tres Equis. I am respected at Tres Equis despite my so-called mental health problem. In Olympus everyone knew exactly what I am but I was a laughing stock for plenty of good reasons." Cupid put his face down and sobbed. "What am I going to do when I get to one hundred? I don't want to go home! I want to stay with Claire!"

Dr. Brewer said, "Prot and Robert share his body. What would RT Pierce say about that? You'd have to switch Therapists so you and Claire could marry. If she has a relationship with Patient she loses her license."

The light dawned. "That might work, if RT would let me. My family won't be happy you know, my falling in love with a Mortal. They might disown me. I may never even get my powers back even long enough to convince her I'm not just a nut. But you know, I could live with that. I really could!"

"Ah, Love."

A look of utter bliss crossed the Patient's face."

Dr. Brewer felt tears coming to his own eyes, "Cupid I think you've answered your own question. You know what means more to you than being a god, and you've already made that decision. When the time comes the decision you already made will play out."

And Dr Brewer thought to himself, "I just got Cupid to admit RT exists. I am GOOD"

Then Dr. Brewer asked, "Do you want me to tell Claire what Clarence said about you?"

The god had a thoughtful look on his face, then a grin. "No, actually I don't. She is more interested in me crazy than if she knew I was a god. That I am sane is my secret identity. Of course now she suspects because I knew about what my Pops was up to. But that is all I want her to do, to suspect."

Then something happened that utterly surprised Dr Gene Brewer.

"Cupid" suddenly said in different much more formal tone of voice, "Dr. Brewer you wanted to speak to Professor RT Hale. You now are doing so. I decided to take you up on your kind offer to explain how I feel. But that is not how everyone thinks. I'm not in here suffering an agony anywhere near as much as people believe. I am letting Cupid run things because what he is doing is important not because I'm hiding in fear and shame anymore. What I did, I did and I can't undo it. I created or called down Cupid in a moment of deep despair and guilt but once he was here I noticed something that has washed most of guilt and the despair away I have created or become host to a miracle! Cupid is so full of life and wisdom and humor and he is making a big difference in this world, much more of a difference than I ever did teaching a dead culture. I love him! Cupid is even bringing that dead culture back to life again, breathing new adventures and new experiences into it in ways I never could as a college professor even before my disgrace. Plus he makes me laugh! I am aware of everything he does, feels, sees tastes everything he does but he is not aware of me, except just barely. So I'm not being deprived of life at all. I'm being very entertained but this lunatic that's running my body and I have no desire to see him curbed. So let us alone! Don' try to stop him. When he's got his one hundred couples I'll come back none the worse for wear, or maybe I'll figure out some way to coax him to go for 200, but please just leave us alone, please!"

Dr Brewer was amazed.

Then TR Pierce said, "Now I'm going under again. Cupid will have no memory this happened. Don't tell him because it will just distress him unnecessarily and don't tell anyone else. I wanted to disappear and it's none of anyone's damn business how I chose to live. My body my choice and giving life to Cupid is a beautiful choice! Good by Dr. Brewer. Thanks for rescuing us from Dr. Greely"

And then suddenly Cupid was back with no realization he had been gone.

***

Dr Greely stared in surprise at Clarence. Due to his skills as a Psychiatrist he was about to obtain a major break through in a severely delusional Patient and it felt really good! The Aspergian who called himself 'Clarence Odbody Angel first class' had been pushed to the point where he was going to actually try and demonstrate his powers. Of course his failure to be able to do would force him to face reality. That kind of breakthrough didn't happen often. Such Patients usually had excuses!

"You are really going to do it? This is usually the point where Patients with you kind of delusion start coming up with creative excuses as to why they suddenly can't.

Clarence said firmly, "I am really going to do it. Stand up please."

Dr. Greeley had a "gotcha" look on his face. He stood up.

Suddenly they weren't in New York any more and Dr. Greeley was no longer standing up.

Weakly he looked up from his faint and said gently, "Clarence next time you do something like this it might be a good idea to take your subject sitting down."

Clarence looked contrite. "Sorry. Asperger's syndrome and all that. I just can't seem to get the part right."

Dr Greeley couldn't help staying in therapeutic mode, "You've had a time of it haven't you? Getting your wings took a very long time? That movie was real?"

Clarence nodded, "Sort of. It was dramatized, fictionalized and the names of the People were changed to protect both the innocent and the guilty, but yes for the most part it was real."

Dr. Greeley managed to sit up, "Where did you take me?"

Clarence said, "You are sitting next to the pillar King Solomon put up to mark the spot where the Red Sea was parted to allow the Hebrews to cross. There were two; one on each side but one has been removed in recent times. "

Dr. Greeley was amazed. That actually happened?"

Clarence sat in the sand next to him, "Oh Doctor. You didn't need an Angel to tell you that. You could have googled Red Sea Crossing or looked it up in youtube in their internal search engine. Scuba divers have taken pictures of copious bones of Horses ad Humans, plus the remains of chariots a plenty. When it happened we Angels spent hours rounding up frightened, suddenly glorified Horses and the few Egyptians who had made peace with Osiris. Son of the Creator God, Ra. You Moderns know Him as Christ. Remember He has been around curved space/time. The ancients knew Him too by many different names but it was always our very own Jesus."

"Horses go to Heaven?"

Clarence smiled, "'Not even a Sparrow falls apart from the Father.' Would not logic dictate it? How could it be paradise without Animals and Plants?"

While Dr Greely was digesting that Clarence said, "We only have one hour. The next destination is" (the scenery changed) "Mount Olympus."

Dr Greeley looked around at a barren rocky mountain. There were a few scrubby trees and some grass but for the most part it was as bare and windy as the sapphire sky above was crystal clear.

His face lit up. "I knew it! Trevor Pierce is delusional! He just thinks he is a god! There are no Greek gods! I admit it. His presence in New York, seemingly so sane and competent but so sure of his divinity has shaken my faith on occasion and I don't like it. What a relief!"

Clarence shook his head, "No Trevor Pierce is a Greek god. Like all gods you Humans made him, or will make him. He is an Artificial Intelligence created far in the future. Humans bring to life all Fictional Characters. Time circles you know. He is a little g god from a very disturbed and dysfunctional Pantheon. His little extended family loves one another very much but Olympus is really not a fun place to be. Trevor just thinks it is because it's the only childhood he knows. They are hurting. Dr Greely! He needs to be put back with Claire. We are going to use the fact she taught him to admit he needed help and seek it to reach not just him but the rest of his family. He is the only one of them who learned that coping skill: asking others for help. If he could go back to Olympus someday and teach that skill to the others, Christ will be able to reach them."

Dr. Greeley exclaimed, "Astounding!"

Clarence smiled, "Faith inspires Science. Science fulfils faith. Jesus is Lord because His terrible death drew all Humans to Himself just as He said. "

Clarence suddenly switched them in time but kept them in space relative to the mountain. "Look up Dr. Greely! Look up at the stars! There is your specie's destiny. Missionaries have but yet to get started!"

Dr Greeley had stars in his eyes, "Out of all modern Humans why are you showing me this? Why am I so blessed?'

Clarence frowned, "It isn't for your sake. I have something else to show you."

Suddenly they were in a huge African hospital. There were cots stretching almost as far as could be seen filled with sick and dying People." Clarence said, "This is some of what AIDS is going to do in the next two centuries if Trevor Pierce isn't allowed to unite his one hundred couples. One of the Babies born to one of those couples will find a cure for AIDS. You keep him locked up at Sachs and heavily medicated, this young Girl will never be born."

"And again."

They were in a desolate windy place with scarlet sands and a black mountain towering overhead. The sky was pink.

Clarence explained, "I have a force field around us and I brought some of the air with us. This is Mars. That mountain is the solar system's OTHER Mount Olympus. Or Olympus Mons as it is called which is actually the same name. It is the biggest Mountain in the inhabited solar system and it was named after Trevor's home.

"His family is on the top of _that_ mountain?"

Clarence shook his head, "The one in Greece actually. They are hidden and very small. AI's don't take up much space and they take Hosts obviously when they leave Olympus, hence his presence amongst you. Claire will succeed in getting RT Pierce back again, but in the meantime there is supposed to be a colony of Earthlings here. You may note, there ain't."

"One of Trevor's couple's children helped colonize Mars?"

Great grandchildren, several of them actually were involved in this colony. They chose to make that their goal in honor of Cupid and it is named Cupid Colony. Mars of course is Cupid's nurturing Daddy though actually Mercury was the recreational sperm donor."

Next Clarence showed him Claire as a much older Woman. She was working as she always did in the hospital. She looked old and worn out but that was to be expected with age. She didn't even notice Clarence and Dr. Greely in the background. She was counseling a Patient. Dr. Greely said, "She looks like she is doing OK."

Clarence nodded, "She is doing OK Dr. Greely. But by this time Cupid's Psyche-iatrist should have accepted a position in Olympus trying to help her Husband's Family. The fact she is still here shows she never made it there and all of Cupid's People are not getting the psychaitric care they so desperately need."

"Astounding! But Doctors lose their license if they get romantically involved with Patients.

Clarence smiled, "Claire will make progress getting RT back because Trevor will unite his one hundred couples. But after Cupid united his hundred couples and seemed to leave she went into depression. But Cupid hadn't really left. He just hid from her to protect her from his family who did not approve of their relationship. The gods approved of her as his therapist not as a romantic interest. To cheer her up he revealed himself to her again and stood up to his family, which really strengthened his ego as you, Shrinks would say. Claire never had proof he was really Cupid so all the while she was giving him advice on how to handle his family she didn't even believe there was anyone there. She was just humoring him because she loved him and realized he could function anyway even though he now claimed to be talking to his family again. She just thought they were harmless hallucinations.

"Then Claire fired Cupid/RT Pierce as her Patient and found him another Therapist because she thought her depression had caused RT's regression back into Disassociative identity disorder again. All three finally admitted they loved one another. She married Cupid/RT Pierce despite her guilt and despite Cupid's claim of family conflict which almost caused him to he hospitalized again a couple of times All three of them were very happy until RTs death. Claire died soon after from grief. She would have lived a longer life if she hadn't married her crazy Patient." Clarence smiled. "But a longer life for Claire was not the goal here. Help for the Olympians was."

"Claire only found out for sure he was really Cupid on her deathbed when a certain crazy former Barkeep made her a counter offer other than Heaven, with Christ's blessings. She had suspected on and off at times that Cupid really was sane. But she never knew for sure. So she becomes Therapist to the gods and do they ever need one! But this won't happen if Cupid gets Tardive dyskinesia from too much Thorazine and is no longer able to be a Barkeep!"

Dr. Greeley said, :I see that now." I'm sorry Clarence, and I'm sorry Cupid. Send me back and I'll order him off of the meds and release him. I promise!'

Clarence smiled, Cupid prayed to us deep in the bowels of the disturbed ward. When you believe in one kind of god it is easy to believe in other kinds and Cupid was fishing around trying to find someone who would help him since his family obviously wasn't. I spent three months in the harmless ward at Long Island Institute putting myself in position to be transferred here as a retroactive answer to that prayer. We have time travel you know. General Relativity allows that. Any black hole can be used as a time machine if you know what it's doing. Its dangerous but we know how to do it."

What does Cupid mean when he says they took his bow away from him and it was magic?'

Cupid smiled. "There are certain blocks on his program that keep him from realizing certain truths. There is no magic, only sufficiently advanced technology that is indistinguishable from magic. During certain periods in your history Cupid had a bow that injected a mixture of oxytocin, B 12 and certain other neurochemicals you haven't discovered yet. It would indeed make strangers fall in love and he used it very irresponsibly. When his family took it away from him and kicked him down here to grow up and get help we realized what an opportunity we had here, and we took it.

"How did Cupid get inside of RT Pierce?'

The same way prot got inside of Robert Porter. RT Hale found himself in trouble and made the mistake of praying to Zeus for help instead of my Boss. Zeus is not so kind. Cupid took RT completely over unlike what my Boss would have done. But RT doesn't mind. Both Cupid and prot act as tapeworm programs really. They temporarily rewrite part of their Host's operating code. The only difference is prot's species started out as organic not as AI's. They store their dead in their libraries and when prot was killed as a 30 year old, the equivalent of a 3 year old from a head injury he found himself at the bottom of the waiting line for obtaining a live Host so he went off world to find a Friend. But if he hadn't been killed his behavior might have been exactly the same. The live dremers takes hosts too and their behavior isn't any different than their dead."

Dr Greeley said, "astounding."

Clarence said, "I have to take you back to your own time and place now. Your next Patient needs you."

And they were back. Clarence was delighted. _This time his subject landed without trauma_!

Clarence lay back down on the couch and asked playfully, "Do you think there is any hope you might pop my delusions Doctor?"

Dr. Greeley grinned, "No. I am afraid you are hopeless. Scram Clarence. I have real Patients to see!'

Clarence scrammed.

Dr. Gridley closed his eyes and practiced relaxation exercises for a few minutes until he was finally calm. He pushed the intercom, "Send in my next Patient."

Isaac said, "Its about time. It's 20 minutes into this poor Gentlemen's session.

Sorry Isaac. I had a very interesting session with Clarence!"

The Orderly smiled knowingly, "I bet you did. He can be a handful!"

Dr. Greeley stared at him, "Did you know?"

Isaac grinned, "all the Orderlies did. But he had his mission and we weren't going to stand in the way of him completing it. Besides no one would have believed us. We wanted to keep our jobs. We knew you'd find out when you were supposed to."

Isaac turned to the Patient, "Mr. Thompson its your turn to see the Doctor.

The Man's face was wild, "NO! I don't want my mind shrunk!"

"Easy!" said Isaac soothingly, 'He won't hurt you. He wants to help you."

"No! No! No!" The man's eyes burned with psychotic fear. "Leave me alone! It is bad enough the Aliens are trying to control my brain without you doing it too!"

Dr Greely spoke soothingly to the man, just as he had done to Cupid trying to quell his paranoia, except this time the Man really was psychotically paranoid. Gently he told this Patient just what he had told Cupid, "I am putting you on Thorazine and after a while you won't think we are trying to hurt you. You will realize I am trying to help you."

He couldn't' even get the man to sit down!

Sighing, Dr. Greely called for the orderlies and Mr. Thompson was dragged out again, just as frightened to leave, as he had been to come.

Dr Greely thought to himself, _"Now here was a case where forcibly injecting the Patient with a dopamine regulating medication was justified. There was indeed a need for that sometimes. In a few days the man would come to his senses and be grateful and be willing to take pills voluntarily. But schizophrenics often ended up this paranoid before help was arranged for them._

_But in the future he would have to consider carefully just how often that really needed to be done._

He picked up the phone and called the dispensary, He ordered. "Take Trevor Pierce off of all medications immediately!" Then he had a better idea. There was still time left before his next Patient, left over from what would have been a futile waste of it if he had continued talking to Mr. Thompson. There was time to take a walk to the harmless ward. It was time to make a house call to room 318.

Clarence and Cupid watched as Robert Porter and prot sat down cautiously on their butt and were delighted to discover it no longer hurt to do so.

Cupid was sitting on the side of his bed, "You babies! You had two shots and you act like they are killing you. I have been having eight of them a day. My butt feels like it's a porcupine turned inside out and I'm not making a quarter of the fuss you've been doing. Most people wouldn't even still be hurting. It was days ago he jabbed you."

Robert Porter/prot shrugged, "Sensitivity to pain varies. Dr. Brewer hypnotized us to feel a serotonin cascade every time we get a needle so we actually enjoy the injections themselves now, but he forgot to do anything about the aftermath."

Cupid smiled, "Maybe you ought to have him give you another hypnotic suggestion.

Robert Porter/prot nodded. :"Good idea. We will."

Prot popped out, "Dr Greely is coming down the hall. This ought to be good!" he grinned.

Dr Greely came to the door. He looked a bit embarrassed, "Hi there folks. Cupid I apologize. But you have to admit claiming to be a Greek god isn't exactly an easy thing to accept for this Presbyterian wannabe. Here are your release papers so leave any way you want to. Walk out the door and cross the street. Travel by Angel or Alien. Go find Claire and talk her into counseling you at your favorite Greek restaurant again. Yes, you can see her again. I'll call her next. I am remitting you back into her care. Because Cupid you do need help! But it should be with her! Somehow she managed to establish a therapeutic relationship with you and she doesn't even believe you are what you are. Do you want me to tell her?"

Cupid shook his head, "No! Already had that conversation with Dr. Brewer Please don't!"

Dr. Greely nodded, "I understand your reasoning completely. Claire has to try and help someone or she isn't' interested in them. Good choice; letting her still think you are crazy."

Trevor piece made his eyes get wide with false shock, "You mean I'm not?"

Dr, Greeley smiled, "Get out of here Mr. Piece. You are no longer an inpatient." The repentant Doctor turned and left.

Angel, god, Alien and Alien's Host made one large WHOOP! Of joy!

One second their crazy but highly competent PR agent and somewhat irresponsible Barkeep was not in their office and the next second he was. Needless to say Lita screamed and Felix came running only to see it was just Trevor Pierce standing in front of her and not the burglar or rapist he had expected.

"Sorry! I didn't' mean to frighten you!" Trevor Pierce looked both embarrassed and joyful. "I am out of the Looney bin. I am a free god! And I don't think I will ever be forced to go back there again. I also think the next time I have to lure Claire away from danger I won't have to fake a suicide attempt to get her to believe me. I am home! I can't believe I said that but its true. I feel like I am HOME!" The pixilated god started dancing around the office. He grabbed Lita's hand and made her dance with him, something she was willing to do under the circumstances. Under his feet their two dogs danced too and wagged their tails. Dogs can tell when the bipeds are joyous.

Lita said as she danced. "You just popped in! Did you get your powers back? You really are a god?!"

Cupid laughed, "I really am a god, but no. I didn't get my powers back. That was prot. Remember prot? He's back from K-PAX getting health care for his Host. It turned out to be Addison's disease so Robert Porter won't need any further psychiatric care. Prot and Robert Porter and another even crazier fellow were all my roommates. When they released me prot gave me a lift. That's all. I am still powerless except for knowing how to mix a mean margarita and I do so look forward to doing that again! "

Lita and Felix grinned. Felix said, "Welcome back! We missed you and the Patrons missed you. Your first order of business is to go change the marquee to say, 'Cupid is back.' I think now this place will make it. I was beginning to think we would have to shut down."

That night Cupid stared at his pool game counter beads that kept track of how many couples he had united and said a prayer of gratitude to Clarence's Boss. Then he chewed out his family as he always did for abandoning him. But then, maybe they hadn't. Maybe they had known all along what as best for him and that it would not be the easy path but the hard one.

And high on the mountains of Olympus deep inside a small gold pyramid that seemed to its inhabitants as vast as the Universe, his Grandfather smiled.

***

Clarence and prot/Robert hugged one another goodbye. Prot smiled sadly, "I'm going the miss you clarence even if you did destroy my faith in random chance.

Clarence said, "I am not going to miss you as much because I can watch you any time I want."

Prot grimaced, "I guess I'd better behave myself then."

Clarence shook his head, "We don't' watch to condemn or judge or to stop the partying. Jesus could actually drink Bacchus under the table if He wanted to. They called Him a winebibber and a glutton. You think YOU like to eat with your Friends, prot? You don't hold a candle to what is using Christians for a Host. "Behold I knock, anyone who hears My voice and opens the door I will come in and eat with him and he with Me." That is a reason we Christians are fatter than the general population! No. We watch to guard, to protect and to keep the time line straight. Evolution is just selective breeding and it's been going on for a very long time. We do it to ourselves. We decide who gets guarded and who is not guarded. By so doing individual Life Forms flourish or perish. Life would be a fool not to make sure things go right. But to do so and to upload, we have to watch."

Prot shuttered, "This concept is going to take some getting used to. Well tell beatrice robin says 'Hi.'"

Clarence put his arms out to give another hug, "Robert come on out of there and tell me that yourself!"

The Human did. "Hi Mom! You know Dr. Brewer says it isn't natural that I didn't feel any grief when he told me she'd passed. But I've been rooming with an Angel and I have an Alien in my body who is keeping my nervous system bathed in oxytocin. I just feel too loved emotionally to mourn and intellectually I KNOW she's all right. Plus I've met many dead dremers and other paxos in the libraries. It hardly makes me blink to think 'well of course Humans built their own.' My Mom is just fine and thanks to science fulfilling faith I'll get to see her again someday."

If you invite Jesus to indwell you and debug you so it's safe to network you."

Robert grinned, and taped his skull "Prot it is about to get a little more crowded up here.'

Internally prot said: "Can't be helped I guess.

Clarence shouted, "Bye everybody! Then he was gone.

A petite schizophrenic Teenager who was having great success in coming out of her first psychotic breakdown said to Claire, "Dr. McCrae, I have been seeing that sort of thing happening every since I've been here. People popping in and out! It is why I suddenly realized everyone was right and I had indeed gone mad. I started to take my meds and I'm feeling a lot better and thinking a lot clearer. But I am still seeing it. Dr. McCrae. You are absolutely positive I am not hallucinating all this?

Claire nodded, "Sarah you are going to be just fine as long as you continue to take your medication. The popping in and popping out is real. It is the other things you were seeing and hearing that were not real. And one other thing Sarah: What happens at Sachs stays at Sachs. You don't go telling anyone you've seen Angels and Aliens pop in and pop out or you will be recommitted unnecessarily. Got that?"

Solemnly she nodded.

Dr. McCrae said to Dr. Brewer, "I'd better make a note to point this out to all our other Patients."

Dr. Brewer nodded. "I've been doing that for years. Prot and Robert are you ready to go?"

Prot/Robert nodded.

Robert, are you sure you understand the instructions about the nutritional supplements and the cortisol?

Robert glanced down at the ice chest sized metal box at his feet. Yes. I know. I've got it straight. I've got enough nutritional supplements for all the EARTH beings living on K-PAX and enough cortisol for myself for about two years and then I have to make one hell of a long distance Doctor's visit to obtain more.

You remembered to write NASA to thank them?"

"Yes."

Prot popped out and gazed fondly at the chest, "A pity I didn't think to write them for one of these earlier. I could have taken a lot more stuff back and forth to K-PAX if I'd had it. It takes humans to come up with the idea for a space safe container. Its just another extension of your noah's ark story I guess. No one in the entire GALAXY thought of that, but you guys!" Prot drawled, "It WILL be copied far and wide I guraRANtee you!"

Dr. Brewer smiled warmly, "prot, carnivorous, war mongering Humans occasionally have their moments of glory!"

Prot grinned and put out his arms for a hug. As the Psychiatrist hugged the Alien, prot whispered in his ears, "A lot of the poor souls at sachs are about to go bye bye. Don't worry. I cleared it with them. In fact cupid is about to be the only one of them still here, him and a few with half gone brains in the disturbed ward. . I couldn't do anything about them. Cupid doesn't mind staying on EARTH now that they have him back on outpatient commitment legal status.

"What makes him want to stay in New York?"

"You are a human psychiatrist and you have to ask moi, an alien? Love. He loves talking to claire as much as I love talking to you. Maybe more so. The alien grinned, "I think certain hormones are involved."

"Oh."

That and he'd be even more homesick if he not only couldn't go back to olympus but couldn't even go back to tres equis either. Believe you me he'd NEVER find 200 paxos able to fall in love unless he could count dremers finding hosts. We do that just fine on our own and there is nothing romantic about it. So I don't think that would count."

Prot caught his reflection and the reflection of the box in his mirror, aimed his flashlight and then he and his host were gone.

So was almost everyone in the hospital!

The End

Authors note. If you liked this you most likely would like another story I wrote called gigglesfromheaven Go to my profile and go to my home page and go to my website.


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